The Aftermath
by Rocky2e
Summary: Follow-up to "The Interview" and "The Fallout." Frank, Claire and Emily have to adapt to the ever-changing White House landscape. Slight spoilers for season four and five. C/F.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello, everyone, I'm back! I didn't expect to be writing anything further with this story, but I figured since** _ **House of Cards**_ **is ending, I might as well do this now. If you haven't read "The Interview" or "The Fallout," I recommend you do so you have an idea of what's happening here. As always, this is based on some episodes towards the end of season four with minor changes thrown in there.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own** _ **House of Cards**_ **or any characters from it. The only character that's mine is Emily. Any or all similarities to other stories are purely coincidental.**

 **Chapter One.**

"Francis, there's something wrong with Emily." Claire Underwood tells her husband while they are sitting in the Oval Office. Frank looks up from his briefing sheet, bringing his full attention to his wife.

"Meaning?" Between his shooting, them campaigning together as husband and wife, president and vice president, and Claire's mom dying, a lot has gone on for the Underwoods in the last few months. It's no surprise to him their daughter is acting differently.

"She's…different. It's almost like something is bothering her, but she doesn't know how to express it." He trusts his wife's judgment implicitly, especially when it comes to their daughter. However, he isn't sure how to correct it. Emily can be like them when it comes to emotions. Sometimes, it's better to move forward than to confront what is really happening.

"Claire, she's three."

"I know." Claire eyes shift over to his, silently waiting for him to relent. Frank sighs, he knows that look from his wife too well.

"Fine. We can talk to her tonight."

"Thank you." Claire stands up and leaves the office, heading to an afternoon meeting.

Later that night, Emily is seated at the table while Claire is putting the finishing touches on their dinner. Frank is nowhere to be seen, which isn't surprising to Claire. He doesn't do well with difficult conversations, particularly ones concerning their toddler.

"Emily, put your toys away. We are about to eat," Claire tells Emily over her shoulder when she sees Frank breeze through the living room of the residence. Emily defiantly slams her doll onto the dining room table. Claire meets Frank's eyes across the room. He nods in understanding.

"Emily, do as your mother says." Frank tells his daughter, not having the patience his wife possesses. Emily chooses to throw the doll on the floor, instead of getting up and putting it in her room like she usually does. "Pick up your toy and put it in your room, now." He draws out each word in attempt to keep his explosive temper at bay. Like Claire, Emily doesn't respond to being yelled at.

Emily hops off her chair and does as she's told. Claire sits down in her typical spot at the dining table while Frank sits down in his.

"She doesn't act like this, Francis." Frank and Claire have always prided themselves on raising their child the best way they can given their circumstances. It doesn't matter to them how unconventional Emily's upbringing is, they will not have their daughter acting like a spoiled brat.

"It's okay, we will solve it." He rests his hand over her cheek for a moment, withdrawing it when he sees Emily rejoin the table.

"How was school today, Em?" Frank asks, hoping his question will lead somewhere constructive. Emily shrugs as she bites into her food.

"I push a boy," The toddler says offhandedly. Claire and Frank's eyes widen at Emily's confession. They didn't hear anything from the school about the incident.

"Why would you push someone Emily?" Claire asks.

"He touch me and I not like it." Frank clenches his fist under the table at the thought of some boy touching his little girl, not matter how innocent it may seem.

"How did he touch you?" Claire sees her husband's jaw clench and decides to take the reins on this conversation. "Show me."

Emily gets down from her booster seat and walks over to Claire, hitting her arm as hard as she can. Frank bites his lip, trapping a sigh of relief in his mouth. He's relieved it's nothing more than standard rough-housing between kids.

"Well, Daddy and I will take care of it. I'm proud of you for standing up for yourself, Emily."

After Emily is put to bed, Frank and Claire share a cigarette by the windowsill. Claire reluctantly passes the cigarette over to her husband, who accepts it.

"What do you think we should do about Emily?" Claire asks.

"Nothing for now. I want her to learn how to stand up for herself. If something else happens, then we can intervene. I got to much on my plate right now to be dealing with this."

Republican candidate William Conway is picking up steam and can pose a real threat to Frank and Claire for the next election. Unlike the Underwoods', the Conway's' tout their children out for the world to see. Unfortunately, the public is eating it up, forcing Frank and Claire to think of a new strategy.

"We're going to destroy them," Claire says, abruptly changing subjects. Frank nods and passes the cigarette back to her.

"Yes, we are."

The next afternoon, Frank and Claire are meeting with senior Cabinet officials to discuss ICO, an emerging terrorist organization threatening the country.

"What we are doing is not enough," Frank tells the room. Claire nods in agreement. Now is the time for the Underwoods to be ruthless.

"Well Sir, I agree. However, we need to pro…" Secretary of State Catherine Durant is interrupted by a Secret Service agent entering the room.

"Excuse me, Mr. President, Ma'am, there's something you need to be aware of. It's an incident at your daughter's school. I have the principal on the line, outside."

Frank and Claire lock eyes with each other, wondering what they should do. They never let Emily interfere with their work and can't show weakness in front of their Cabinet. Not at a time like this. Claire stands up and quietly excuses herself from the room to take the call.

"I understand. I will be there momentarily. Thank you," Claire says and hangs up the phone. She quietly slips back into the meeting to whisper into Frank's ear. "I have to go deal with this."

"Let me know," Frank whispers back and watches her leave.

The motorcade brings Claire over to Emily's school. When she arrives, her daughter is sitting on a bench outside of the principal's office. Emily is swinging her legs back-and-forth, with a cherubic expression written on her face. If Claire didn't know any better, her daughter would be the picture of innocence.

"Hi Mommy," Emily says, appearing to be unbothered by whatever is happening around her.

"Hi Emily. I'll be right back." Claire enters the principal's office and closes the door behind her.

"Hello Mrs. Underwood, I'm sorry to have to bring you down here, but we had to involve you after what happened this morning." The principal offers a hand for Claire to shake. Claire rejects it and sits down in a chair across from him.

"Principal…Gordon, is it? What exactly happened that I needed to be pulled away from a Cabinet meeting?" Claire eyes the elderly gentlemen in front of her carefully. The man nervously rubs his glasses with the lapels of his navy blazer. Suddenly, the door swings open and a petite blonde woman walks in with Emily behind her.

"This morning, Ethan Ellis, had an allergic reaction to his food. It appears someone switched his snack with theirs, knowing Ethan has a peanut allergy." The woman, who Claire presumes is Emily's teacher, explains.

"And you're saying my daughter is responsible? She's three. I'm sorry, this is ridiculous," Claire says. Emily scurries over to Claire.

"All of the children are aware of Ethan's allergy and we know Ethan and Emily have been having a hard time getting along lately." Claire narrows her eyes and looks from the teacher to the principal.

"Yes, let's talk about that. My daughter came home yesterday telling my husband and I that someone slapped her, and nobody did anything. Can someone explain that to me?" Claire asks and waits for an answer.

"We weren't aware of any situation. Emily should've said something if she felt she was being bullied." Emily's teacher says. Claire shakes her head.

"No. I would expect teachers at this school to watch out for their students. I would hate for us to have to find a different school for our daughter to attend and for funds to be allocated to different schools in this district. What would happen then? This school would wither and die without my husband and I's contributions."

"Mrs. Underwood," Principal Gordon says with his hand up.

"Actually, it's First Lady Underwood."

"Right, my apologies. We don't want Emily to leave this school. She's a remarkably intelligent little girl, but we just have to know if she did what she's being accused of."

"Do you have any evidence that Emily is the one responsible?" Claire asks. She can tell by the rosy hue of the principal's cheek that they don't.

"No, but several students did see Emily go over by the snacks right before they were handed out," The teacher adds in. Claire glances down at Emily sitting in her lap.

"Emily, did you switch Ethan's snack?" Claire asks.

"No mommy," Emily says.

"I think we are done here." Claire hoists Emily onto her hip and exits the principal's office without another word. Emily is quiet until Claire buckles her into the car seat. "You did it, didn't you Emily?" Her daughter might have fooled the principal and teacher, but not her. Emily nods solemnly.

"Am I in twoble?" Emily whispers.

"No. Just be more careful next time."

Claire isn't going to punish Emily for doing exactly what she or her husband would've done. She's impressed Emily thought of something so bold at such a young age.

When they get back to the White House, Claire leaves Emily in her room to play while she goes to find her husband. Frank is in the situation room with Conway, trying to deescalate the ICO situation.

"What's the latest?" Claire asks Frank. They silently agreed to table the conversation about Emily until they are by themselves.

"Hostages. The Miller Family. Father, Jim, wife, Caroline and their daughter Melissa," Frank briefs his wife. "Three demands: the end of US military activity in Syria, $10 billion in reparations to ICO and the release of its leader Yusuf Al Ahmmadi."

"What is he doing here?" Claire asks when she sees William Conway speaking to some military personnel in the situation room.

"He's helping," Frank says with an eye roll. Claire is shocked her husband is allowing this to happen, but knowing Frank, he has a plan. "Him and his family are moving into the White House, temporarily."

"Interesting," Claire says.

Later that night, Claire is left to greet Hannah Conway and her children, Charlie and Lily while Frank and Will talk strategy in the kitchen.

"Emily, we have guests," Claire says to the toddler. Emily comes out of her room to see the Conway's in her living room.

"Hello, I'm Hannah, and this is Charlie and Lily. What's your name?" Hannah asks Emily. Emily glances at Claire who winks at her.

"Emily. Why are you here?" Emily asks bluntly. Hannah laughs at the toddler's direct question.

"Well, your father and my husband are helping release the hostages. He's running for president too." Emily scoffs at the notion.

"My daddy's the pwesident and my mommy's the vice pwesident."

"Emily, go show Charlie and Lily to their room." Claire says with a smirk. Emily hasn't had to interact with other children outside of school before. Claire wonders how the toddler is going to react to sharing her things for a short time.

"Do you want to play with me?" Charlie asks as the three kids walk away. Emily glances at the little boy's snot-ridden dinosaur toy with disgust.

"No."

Hannah and Claire sit down for some tea in the living room while they watch the children go in and out of Emily's bedroom.

"Your kids are very cute," Claire comments to Hannah.

"Thank you. Emily is adorable. Can I ask if you ever regretted not having more than one child?" Claire is visibly taken aback by the question. "Oh, I'm sorry. Is that too personal?"

"Do you ever regret having two?" Claire asks and calmly takes a sip of her tea. Hannah looks appropriately embarrassed and chooses not to comment.

After the Conways' have retired to their rooms for the night and Emily is put to bed, Frank and Claire have a chance to talk.

"She switched the kid's snack?" Frank asks in disbelief. A smile breaks out on his lips when he thinks of how cunning his daughter's actions were.

"Yes. And then she lied to the principal and teacher's face about it. It was amazing, Francis." Claire accepts the cigarette from her husband. "I don't think we will have any more problems there."

"In the Situation Room today, you hesitated with what to do regarding the hostage crisis. Why is that?" Frank asks. He noticed it earlier but knew better than to bring it up in front of Conway.

"It was nothing, foolish, really." Frank refuses to hand the cigarette back until she truly answers his question. "I thought of Emily. The girl, she reminded me of Emily. I wasn't objective, but I'm done with that now."

"I did too, for a moment, think of Emily. You are right though, Claire. We can't afford to make any mistakes. Our nomination hinges on how we deal with the crisis."

"Why are you letting Conway help us then?" Claire doesn't see what her husband sees yet.

"Because I want to give him a little power and then shut it down. The hostages need to be released with full credit going to us, not him."

"I trust your judgment, Francis. Goodnight." Claire extinguishes the cigarette and hops off the windowsill.

"Claire?" Frank calls out after her.

"Yes?"

"We might need to use the leader. I can't be seen going there, negotiating." Claire nods in understanding, knowing what her husband is asking of her.

"Just say the word, Francis."

"Goodnight." Claire disappears into her bedroom, shutting the door behind her.

The next morning, at breakfast, Frank and Emily have the rare chance of being alone.

"Your mom told me what you did, Emily." Frank says as he's biting into an apple. Emily nods and takes a bite of her cereal. "I just want you to know that we aren't angry. You just need to be more careful."

"I know. Mommy say so, too." Emily tells her father. "Daddy?"

"Yes, Emily?"

"When are dose oder kids leavin'? I not like them in my room," Emily says and points to the spare room where the Conway's are sleeping. Frank smirks at Emily's question. He remembers a time when the toddler was begging Claire and him for another sibling.

"I don't know Em. We have to figure out how to get the people back first."

"The girl smell bad," Emily says offhandedly while sipping her milk. Claire comes out of her bedroom while Frank is laughing. She reaches over and brushes a kiss to Emily and Frank's cheek.

"I'm so glad we never had another child, and it appears Emily feels the same way," Frank tells Claire.

ICO decides to release the wife and daughter but keep the husband until Frank capitulates with their demands. Claire is left no choice but to secretly meet with ICO's leader to see if he can sway his followers into a peaceful resolution.

The meeting is unsuccessful, causing more damage to the Underwoods' than good. When Claire gets back, she sees Frank hunched in the corner, with his hand on his stomach. She rushes over to him, setting her hand on his arm.

"It's nothing, I'm fine." Frank dismisses her, but she won't allow it.

"Come on. Let's get you upstairs," Claire tells him and clasps his hand. They walk hand-in-hand back to the residences.

A doctor comes up to the residences to briefly examine Frank against his wishes.

"We can't fight everything off one-by-one, Francis. But if we make this, we make it work for us," Claire tells him as they are relaxing together in the living room. The doctor just left and told Frank to take it easy, advice he will ignore.

"Create chaos," Frank says, following his wife's line-of-thinking.

"More than chaos." Frank looks over at her and sits up higher on the couch.

"War."

"Fear."

"Fear. Brutal. Total."

"I'm done trying to win over people's hearts."

"Let's attack their hearts."

"We can work with fear."

"Yes, we can." Frank leans back into the couch cushions, satisfied he's worked this out in their favor.

"You should put on a fresh suit."

"The navy blue."

"Yes, the navy blue." Claire has always told him her favorite suit on him is the navy blue. The suit he was supposed to wear for the Secretary of State nomination that never came to be. A grin tugs at the corner of Claire's lips.

"What?" Frank asks, curious as to why his wife suddenly smiling.

"Do you remember the last time you wore that suit? Not the nomination, but the time before that."

"No. Should I?"

"It was the day we named Emily, after the scare."

 _Frank clambers down the stairs of the townhouse, searching for his wife. It's not typical for her to be up before him. Especially not now, when she's almost seven months pregnant._

" _What are you doing up so early?" Frank asks when he sees his wife at the dining table, nursing a cup of tea._

" _I couldn't sleep. I'm not getting any sleep lately," Claire momentarily puts her hand on her swollen stomach before letting it fall to the side. Frank does a half-turn to scrutinize his wife's face. Deep circles reside under her eyes and her complexion is a pale hue._

" _Go back upstairs and get some sleep." Frank says and then instantly regrets it. He knows how much Claire hates when he tries to manage her. She's going to do the exact opposite of what he said to spite him._

" _No. I'm fine. I have a budget that needs to be finished." Claire downs her tea and moves past him, heading upstairs to get dressed. Frank lets out a sigh. Something tells him he's going to receive a call about his wife at some point today._

" _No, I told you I don't want to focus on domestic legislation now…I want…" Claire trails off and shuts her eyes, willing the pain in her stomach to subside. She is in the midst of an important budget meeting with her board members and can't be derailed by what is sure to be nothing._

" _Mrs. Underwood are you alright?" Evelyn, Claire's office manager asks._

" _Yes. Evelyn, finish the meeting," Claire says through gritted teeth. She backs up her chair and ends up doubling over in pain._

" _Call Frank," Evelyn orders and holds a chair out for Claire to sit back down in._

" _Sir, it's your wife's office. They are taking her to the hospital, something is wrong," Doug tells Frank as he is walking into his boss's office. Frank turns from his voter board and rushes over to his desk, grabbing his jacket._

" _Reschedule everything. And get Meechum, now."_

 _When Frank arrives at the hospital, Claire is cordoned off in a private room. A nurse brings Frank over to Claire, who is breathing heavily. Her eyes are unfocused and she's having a hard time staying awake._

" _What's wrong with her?" Frank asks as he goes to Claire's side. She fumbles for his hand, he notices and grabs it tightly._

" _She's in early labor. We are trying to stop it." Another nurse puts an oxygen mask over Claire's face. In her confusion, Claire is attempting to take the oxygen mask off._

" _Leave the mask on, Mrs. Underwood," the same nurse who put it on tells her. Frank tilts it to the side, knowing his wife wants to tell him something._

" _Francis…Em…" Claire passes out before she can finish her sentence. Frank is rushed out of the room with promises he will be apprised of his wife's condition._

 _Hours pass by until they are finally able to stop Claire's labor and she regains consciousness. When she finally does, Frank is brought back into her hospital room. Claire is sitting up in bed with a fetal monitor wrapped around her stomach._

" _Hey," Frank says in relief. Color's returned to her face and she looks more aware than before. He drapes his blazer over the end of the bed and sits down next to her in a vacant chair._

" _Hi. You look handsome in that suit." Claire whispers._

" _What happened?" Frank asks. He never got an official explanation from any of Claire's doctors as to why she went into early labor._

" _Stress, dehydration and overexertion. She's fine, Francis." Frank's eyebrows lift at Claire's mention of 'she.' He didn't know they are having a girl. "I just found out."_

" _What were you trying to say to me before you passed out?"_

" _The baby's name. I just thought of it. Emily." Frank chews on his bottom lip, mulling the idea around in his head._

" _I like the idea, the name."_

"Do you ever think we should be more like the Conway's?" Claire asks while they are sitting together in silence.

"Not for a moment. How do you mean?"

"They have their two beautiful children and their videos with them. The public just adores them." Frank crosses his arms over his chest.

"Yes, they do, but we have something they don't. We are willing to go one step further than anyone else."

"Even with Emily?" Claire asks. As Emily gets older, it's hard to keep her from the inner-workings of the White House. And on days like yesterday, Frank and Claire's actions have a direct consequence on Emily.

"More so, with her. We both would do anything for her."

"Good. Go put on your suit. I'll tell Emily to put on a dress."

Frank tells the American people in a televised announcement that he is declaring war on ICO. As a result, the terrorists slit Jim Miller's throat on a live-feed sent to the White House. The Conway's leave and the Underwoods' have the White House to themselves again.

"Where's Emily?" Frank asks Claire as they walk up the stairs to the residences together.

"Asleep, I presume. It's pretty late, Francis."

Claire and Frank are a little shaken up by the execution of Jim Miller even though it was something they expected. Frank is more vocal about needing to see Emily, his touchstone amidst all the chaos.

"I'll get her," Claire says and gently brushes her hand up against Frank's arm. She sneaks into their daughter's room and picks up the sleeping toddler. "Let's go into my room." Frank trails behind Claire and Emily. Emily wakes up as Claire is gently laying her down on the bed.

"It's okay, Em." Frank whispers when he sees the confusion on Emily's features. "We just wanted to say hi."

"Hi, Daddy. Are the people gone?" Emily asks, her voice heavy with sleep. The toddler crawls onto the other side of her mother. Frank is sitting on the edge of the bed, closest to Claire.

"Yes. It's just us now." Frank reaches over to lace his fingers with Claire's.

"Go back to sleep, Emily." Claire mumbles, brushing a strand of hair out of their daughter's face with her free hand. Emily cuddles closer to Claire, using her body as a pillow.

"I'll leave you to it, then," Frank states and stands up. He no longer feels welcome in his wife's bedroom.

"No. Stay. Keep us company." Claire tells him sincerely. They haven't shared a bed together since their time in Gaffney and that was under false pretenses, which is why Frank is so hesitant.

"Alright. I'll be back." Frank goes into his bedroom to change into his pajamas. When he returns, he slides into bed next to Emily. Claire is reading on her iPad and Emily has fallen back asleep.

"If you would rather sleep in your own bed, that's fine. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable," Claire says.

"No, this is fine. Goodnight," Frank reaches across Emily to brush a kiss to Claire's cheek.

"Goodnight." Claire says and turns off the lamp light, welcoming darkness into the room.

 **A/N 2: Honestly, I'm not sure where I'm going with this. It's just an idea I wanted to get on paper before the thought escaped me. If you want me to add more, or continue** _ **State of Grace,**_ **just leave me a review and let me know. Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Okay, hi again. I know I marked this as complete, but sometimes you get something in your head that you just have to write down. This is one of those times. As I was wrapping up** _ **The Fallout**_ **I talked about being cautious about getting into season five for obvious reasons, but I'm going to try relying less on the show as a guide and see where that goes. Please enjoy this chapter!**

 **Chapter Two**

"I'm Claire Underwood and I approve this message," Claire says into the camera. She is filming an ad that will hopefully strike fear into the American public. With the aftermath of Jim Miller's killing and his family's kidnapping, people are on edge. The Underwood's plan to use that to their advantage to gain votes.

"Should we do another one?" Claire asks the camera crew. They've been filming since morning, and Emily is due home from school at any moment. She would like to wrap this up before she has a toddler demanding her attention.

"Mommy? What are you doin'?" Emily asks as she breezes through the living room of the residences. Claire sighs and shakes her head at the cameraman. The three-year-old isn't going to stay quiet enough for them to film another take of the commercial. Emily bypasses all of the cameras and hops into her mother's lap. Claire readjusts so Emily can fit while the crew starts taking down their equipment.

"I was filming a commercial for the campaign." Claire brushes a rouge strand of brunette hair away from her daughter's face. "Daddy and I want it to air on TV so people will vote for us." Emily's cerulean eyes light up at the mention of her father.

"Where's Daddy?" Emily asks. She hardly ever sees her father as he bounces from state to state now that the campaign is nearing its end. Claire is hardly around either.

"Daddy's in his office. We have the funeral for that family later today."

Emily nods in understanding. She doesn't know what a funeral is, but she remembers the Conway's invading the White House to get the Miller family back. From what her parents explained to her, the dad died, and the rest of the family lived.

"I go?" Emily asks just as Frank comes into the residences. She sees her father and scurries off Claire's lap. "Daddy, do I go to dat funral?" Frank gingerly bends down to be eye-level to his daughter.

Frank glances at his wife who is shaking her head. They agreed there's no reason for Emily to attend. He isn't sure his daughter really comprehends what happened.

"No. You are going to stay here. Mom and I are going." The toddler frowns at the thought of being excluded. "Trust me, darlin', Mom and I don't even want to go. You can hang out here." Frank gently pushes Emily towards her bedroom.

Claire disappears into her room to change into a form-fitting, ebony t-shirt dress. She wishes the outcome would've been more favorable, but Jim dying boded well for them politically. Her and Frank just need the rest of the Miller family to be on their side.

"But you let it pass…because you know you have so much more ahead of you. So much to do together." Claire watches Melissa Miller deliver her eulogy at her husband's funeral. She is trying to reign in her tears, but for whatever reason, watching Melissa start to break down pulls at Claire. "You think…You think forty minutes. If we were late 40 minutes…" Claire bursts into tears while Frank sizes up the Conway's. She frantically digs through her purse, looking for her sunglasses. Frank glances down and holds his hand out to stop her.

This is all hitting a little too close to home for Claire. With them barely being on the other side of Frank's shooting, she is aware of easily her and Emily could be in Melissa and Caroline's shoes. And part of her feels responsible for this funeral even transpiring. It was her and Frank's decision to let it play out this way, knowing Jim Miller would be sacrificed.

 _Don't get soft, Claire. Not now,_ Claire chastises herself. She stops her pursuit of her sunglasses and gently reaches over to place her hand on Frank's knee. He glances over at her and nods before she withdraws her hand.

"What did the girl say to you?" Claire asks as they are in the car on the way back to the White House.

"She said she hopes I die and that you become president," Frank says to her. "How do you think Emily would've handled this? If it were me?" Claire momentarily abandons the paperwork she was pretending to skim.

"Francis…" Claire takes off her glasses. She wasn't prepared for this conversation nor does she really want to have it.

"No, I'm serious. I know she's a lot younger than the Miller daughter, but would she act that way if it were me?" Claire shakes her head.

"You should've seen the way Emily acted while you were in a coma. It was amazing to see her behave how she did."

"How did she behave?" A grin tugs at the corner of Claire's mouth.

"Like us. She has your pragmatism and my stubbornness. Even if you…" Claire pauses, forcing herself to say the word, "died, she wouldn't act like the girl. No. She would be stronger than that."

Frank smiles and reaches over, holding out his hand. Claire momentarily squeezes it before letting go.

"She's going to do great things, Claire." Claire nods in agreement.

"I know. We just have to make sure she doesn't make our mistakes."

Later that night, Frank and Claire are having a briefing with LeAnn. After they dismiss LeAnn, Claire tells Frank their next move should be appealing to one of the kidnapper's mother.

"Come with me," Frank tells Claire, holding his hand out for her to grasp. Claire grabs it, following her husband outside and onto a private balcony. Frank borrows a sniper scope from a police officer and motions for Claire to follow him to an opening between the pillars of the balcony.

"You see them?" Frank asks as Claire is looking through the scope. "Those people want a voice. Some for, some against. And they're looking back across the lawn, towards this house and these windows and they're thinking 'I wonder what the president and First Lady are doing tonight? And will they be able to protect us?'"

Claire lowers the scope and turns to face Frank.

"I should've been there," Claire says with a frown curling on her lips.

"Where?"

"When you got shot. I wish I was there. Maybe I could've protected you." Frank smiles at her and reaches over to pinch her cheek.

"I had nightmares after I got released from the hospital." Claire's eyebrows lift ever-so-slightly in shock. He's never shared this with her.

"Nightmares about what, Francis?"

"You and Emily being there. The bullet hitting either one of you, sometimes both. It's better you two weren't there. I couldn't…" His voice trails off, but Claire fills in the blanks. "You were able to handle it. I don't think I could've if the roles were reversed."

"I think we would both fall apart if something like that were to happen to Emily," Claire softly mumbles. Frank nods, remembering how shaken they were after Emily broke her arm. And how guilty he felt afterwards.

"I don't even want to think about that," Frank comments after a brief moment of silence. Claire reaches over and places her hand on his shoulder, using her other hand to hand him back the scope. She feels the need to redirect their conversation into something lighter.

"And what are the president and First Lady doing tonight, Francis?" Claire asks with a slight smirk on her lips. Frank matches her expression and gives the scope back to the officer. She stands behind him, waiting to grasp his hand.

The next morning, Claire stirs when she hears her daughter's laughter outside her bedroom door. She looks over, wondering where her husband went. Frank crashed in her bedroom last night but slipped out before she woke up.

"No, Daddy, like dis!" Emily says through a fit of giggles. Claire smiles to herself and quickly gets dressed so she can join them. When Claire opens her bedroom door, she finds Emily sitting in Frank's lap. Emily is sliding her finger back and forth on an iPad, watching a computer-generated model of Frank and Claire's pictures blend together.

"Why are you still playing with that thing?" Claire asks her husband. She sits down in the empty seat next to him. Claire is fiddling with a bracelet she's trying to hook around her wrist.

"Because I'm skeptical," Frank tells her and reaches over to help secure her bracelet.

"That kind of looks like Emily in about twenty years," Claire comments while she watches her daughter continue to manipulate the program. Frank nods in agreement.

"When do you leave for New York?" He asks her.

"Now. We should be back in time for dinner. Emily, are you ready to go?" Claire asks. Emily hands the iPad to Frank and hops off his lap. The toddler races over to her backpack parked on the couch.

"Are you sure you want to bring her?" Frank asks.

"Yes. I think it would be good for her to leave the White House for a little bit. I don't want her to feel she's trapped here."

Emily scurries back over to her parents, showing them she's got her backpack full of toys for the trip.

"I ready!" Emily exclaims.

"Give your father a hug goodbye," Claire tells their daughter. Emily hugs Frank and bounces on her heels, impatiently waiting for her mom to be ready.

"Good luck," Frank tells Claire as she kisses him on the cheek.

"I don't need it."

When Claire is at the subway station for the event, she spots Ken Caswell, an old schoolmate of Frank's. She asks to speak with Ken after the event after he implied something about a relationship between her husband and Tim Corbett, another former classmate of Frank's.

"Mommy, why you have that funny thing on?" Emily asks Claire after the event. Emily was half-watching a movie while Claire was speaking with the mayor of New York City. Claire is holding Emily as they are walking upstairs to meet with Ken.

"It was called a gas mask. It's supposed to help keep people safe in case something bad happens. I was showing people how to wear it," Claire explains. Ken is waiting at the top of the stairs and furrows his eyebrows when he sees Claire holding the little girl. Claire notices the confusion and glances down at her daughter.

"Emily, I want to you play with your toys for a little longer over there," Claire points to an empty bench a few feet away from Ken.

"Mommy, I hungy," Emily complains when Claire sets her down on the ground.

"I know. I just have to talk to a friend of your dad's and then we can get something to eat, okay? You are being so good." Claire motions for the secret service agent following them to escort Emily over to the bench.

"I lost a dear friend. I loved Tim. Everybody did," Ken tells Claire.

"And you implied Francis especially."

"Well, yeah, I mean…That was a whole other thing."

"In what way?" Claire forcefully asks. She doesn't like what Ken is reaching for.

"What do you want me to say? I'm sure I don't know anything you don't. Frank worshipped Tim. If the world was a different place back then…who knows?" Ken sees the sadness encroaching on Claire's face. "That was a long time ago. And then he met you."

Claire and Ken are interrupted by Emily, who pulls on her mother's skirt.

"Mommy? I can't find my bunny," Emily mumbles and sniffs. Tears are spilling out of the toddler's eyes. Claire checked Emily's backpack this morning and her daughter's favorite stuffed animal was in there. Emily must've forgotten it on the plane or left it in the office she was in while Claire was speaking a few minutes ago.

"Did you leave it downstairs?" Claire asks. Emily's little shoulders shrug.

"I don't know, Mommy. I can't go wifout Bunny!" Claire wipes a stray tear from her daughter's cheek.

"No, we won't. Take one of the agents downstairs with you and look for your bunny, okay? I will be down in a minute."

Meanwhile, Ken is watching this whole exchange with an open jaw. He's guessing by the dark hue of the little girl's hair and blue eyes that she is Frank and Claire's daughter.

"You two have a daughter?" Ken asks Claire as Emily walks away with one of the agents. Claire tilts her head in confusion. She assumed either Frank told him, or he saw her interview with Ashleigh Banfield.

"He never told you?" Ken shakes his head,

"No. He never mentioned it when we were at that dedication ceremony for him a few years ago."

 _Claire has a quick drink at the bar while listening to her husband and his group of old school friends tell stories about their time at the Sentinel. She checks the time on her phone, Emily should already be asleep. Frank wanted their daughter there, and she was, until she started getting fussy after dinner._

 _Claire joins the men sitting on the couch. They are trying to goad her into admitting Ken has put on a few pounds. Frank is laughing and motioning with his hand not to give into the rowdy group of guys. He sighs and grabs her hand, squeezing it tightly._

" _Aw, you're a big man with an even bigger heart," Claire says to Ken before leaning down to face her husband. "I'm going to head back to the hotel and see our girl."_

" _Okay." Frank kisses Claire deeply, ignoring the wolf-whistling from the other men._

" _Don't get him into too much trouble," Claire tells Frank's friends._

 _A few hours later, in the middle of the night, Frank drunkenly stumbles into their hotel room._

" _Claire! Claire!" Frank whispers loudly. Claire rolls over just as Frank is turning on the lamp next to her side of the bed._

" _Francis, be quiet, you are going to wake up Emily." Claire sits up in bed and Frank plops down next to her. She can smell the alcohol on his breath. It's been a while since she's seen him this intoxicated._

 _Emily stirs in the crib at the foot of their bed but doesn't wake up._

" _Can I tell them about Emily?" Frank asks. Claire squints as she trying to adjust to the light pouring into the room. She finds it kind of amusing that her husband came back to the hotel, drunk, to ask her if she can tell his friends about their daughter. They've been limiting the number of people who know about Emily ever since she's been born. They don't want anyone using Emily against them in some way._

" _Yes, Francis, I know you trust them." Frank digs in his pocket for his phone and drops it on the carpeting below. Claire covers her smile with her hands. "What are you doing?"_

 _Frank picks up his phone and starts navigating through it. Finally, he shows Claire what he was searching for: a picture of Emily smiling into the camera with pieces of cereal plastered onto her face._

" _I love that picture of her," Claire comments._

" _Me too." Claire gently pushes Frank off the bed._

" _Go. I'm sure your friends are looking for you. We will see you in the morning." Frank attempts to kiss Claire on the lips but misses and gets her cheek instead. Claire turns off the lamp and rolls onto her other side._

" _Love you," Frank mumbles and stands up, fumbling towards the door in the dark._

" _I love you, too. Be careful."_

"Her name is Emily. She's three, almost four," Claire tells Ken.

"She's beautiful."

"Thank you. I should go and find her. It was great to see you."

Claire leaves Ken and goes downstairs to find Emily. The agent Claire left her daughter with is standing near the toddler, who is inching dangerously towards the tracks.

"We have located the bunny," the agent tells Claire like this is a real security briefing.

"Where is it?" Claire asks, momentarily turning her back to Emily.

"Someone took it from your daughter and threw it onto the tracks when we caught up to them. It's down there. Ma'am!" The agent points to Emily, who is just about to jump down into the tracks to rescue her bunny.

"Emily! No!" Claire yells and reaches to grab the toddler, yanking on her arm. Thankfully, Claire has a firm grip on her daughter, preventing her from falling onto the tracks. Emily stumbles due to the abrupt motion and scrapes her knee on the concrete. And then she bursts into tears.

"Mommy, I want Bunny!" Emily demands.

"You cannot do things like that, Emily!" Claire yells at the toddler, shaking her shoulders ever-so-slightly. Claire takes a breath to relax herself before tending to her daughter. "Let me see your leg."

Emily's trembling in Claire's arms. The three-year-old's leg is bleeding, and her sobs haven't subsided. Claire picks Emily up, sidling her on her hip. Emily sobs into Claire's shoulder.

"We need a band-aid," Claire tells a nearby agent.

"Mommy, I want Bunny!" Emily repeats. It figures the one thing that usually calms Emily down during a moment like this is sitting at the bottom of subway tracks.

"I will get you a new bunny, we just have to get you cleaned up first." Claire tells Emily. Emily's lip quivers and she tightens her grip on Claire. She is walking as quickly as she can to an awaiting car, hoping nobody will stop her for a picture or comment.

When they get to the detail, an agent is waiting with a first-aid kit for Claire.

"Thank you," Claire says. She buckles Emily into the car seat before opening the kit. Emily is still crying softly, but her sobs have subsided.

"No, dat hurt!" Emily jerks her leg away from her mother after Claire dabs her knee with rubbing alcohol.

"Where to ma'am?" A female agent driving the car asks Claire.

"The closest toy store," Claire says as she's applying the bandage to Emily's knee.

An hour later, Emily and Claire are sitting on a plane back to D.C. Emily is playing a game on her iPad, her new bunny tucked under her arm. Meanwhile, Claire is a few seats back, talking to Frank about what happened.

"I grabbed her arm, Francis…I shook her. I…terrified her." Claire admits quietly into the phone. The lingering guilt she feels about how she reacted has been gnawing at her since they left the subway station. She acted like the overly emotional mothers Claire used to roll her eyes at.

"Look Claire, you were scared. I probably would've done the same thing, only louder. Is she okay?" Claire sighs.

"Yes. She tripped when I grabbed her and skimmed her knee, but otherwise, she's fine."

"You did the right thing. The outcome could've been a lot worse." He silently wonders how the situation escalated so quickly, but he won't mention that to his wife. The last thing she needs right now is for him to sound like he's criticizing her parenting skills.

"That's what I keep telling myself. We should be back in an hour or so. I'll see you then." Frank figures his wife wants to stew on this by herself for a little while longer.

"Alright. I'll see you soon."

Claire hangs up the phone without saying goodbye. She omitted the part about talking to Ken for the time being. That's a conversation she would rather have with her husband in person.

"Mommy, are you comin?" Emily asks, craning her neck to see where her mother is. Claire walks over to where her daughter is sitting and bends down to be eye-level with her.

"Emily, I want to talk to you about something first." Emily pauses her game and waits for her mother to speak. "When I grabbed you at the station, I wasn't trying to scare you. I didn't want you to fall. If something bad happened to you, I don't know what me and Daddy would do." Claire waits to see if Emily comprehends what she is trying to tell her.

"I okay, Mommy," Emily mumbles. Claire nods and moves to sit down next to her daughter. She kisses the crown of Emily's head while the toddler turns her iPad back on.

"What's this?" Frank asks when he sees Claire walking into the Oval Office holding Emily. He and Claire have agreed to keep their daughter away from the offices of the White House except during extenuating circumstances. Based on what happened today, and how tightly his wife is holding their daughter to her body, this is one of them.

"Hi Daddy!" Emily exclaims. Frank gets out of his chair and walks around his desk. Instead of putting Emily down, Claire keeps her grip on the toddler as she sits in a nearby chair.

"Hi Em, how was New York?" Frank eyes his wife, silently asking her how she's feeling.

"I got new Bunny! I fell too, see?" Emily shows Frank her bandaged knee. Claire involuntarily stiffens, which doesn't go unnoticed by her husband.

"I see that. Are you okay?" Frank asks just to entertain his daughter and reassure his wife.

"Yup! We see your fwiend, Daddy." Emily tells Frank. Claire's bites her lip. She was hoping to be the one to tell her husband about seeing Ken, but their daughter ratted her out. Frank tilts his head in confusion and locks eyes with Claire, looking for an explanation.

"We saw Ken at the event. We need to talk, Francis." Talking to Frank about Tim wasn't something she wanted to do over the phone.

"Okay. Emily, I have to talk to Mommy about something. Can you go play in your room?" Frank asks. Emily juts her lower lip in a pout. She just gained access to the Oval Office and her dad is already asking her to leave.

"But…I wanna stay wif you, Daddy," Emily says in the most innocent voice. Claire lets out a chuckle at the way their daughter is attempting to work her husband.

"Wow," Claire mouths over their daughter's head. "Emily, how about you play in the room next door and we will come and get you when we are done?" She doesn't want her daughter to linger too far away after the incident at the subway station.

"Okay," Emily climbs down from her mom's lap and grabs her backpack. An agent shows the toddler to an adjacent office next to the Oval where Emily can spread out with her toys.

Claire stands up once the door behind Emily closes. Frank goes back to standing across from her. He is curious as to why she didn't mention speaking to Ken on the phone earlier.

"The past doesn't disappear on command, Francis. Not even for presidents," Claire says after explaining how she bumped into Ken. "Why didn't you tell them about Emily? Or did you just not want to tell Tim?"

"What did he say to you?" Frank asks, putting his fists down on the desk.

"Ken's got a big mouth," Claire says, hoping her husband knows what she's implying. Frank walks back over to Claire. "I'm sorry about Tim. I'm sorry he's gone. I know how you felt about him." Frank reaches to put his hands on her shoulders. "Or, I can imagine." He gently rests his hands on her cheeks.

"Listen to me. You know you are the only person I've ever truly loved. You know that, right?" Claire leans into him, feeling his hand glide around her back to bring her into a hug. His hands rub her back while she buries her head into the curve of his neck. "And listen." Claire brings her head up to lean on his shoulder. "Something else is about to happen."

Claire pulls away, frowning at the seriousness eclipsing her husband's face.

"What aren't you telling me, Francis?" She asks.

Frank didn't want to do this now, but he won't let her go into a situation blindsided.

"There's a video of you and Emily at the station. They are going to run a story about you…being an unfit mother."

 **A/N 2: That's it for now, guys! Next chapter, Claire evaluates her choices as a mother while Frank figures out a way to go on the offensive. And poor Emily gets caught in the middle. Please leave a review and thank you, thank you for reading the latest installment!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Welcome back! I have no idea where this inspiration came from, although I have been re-watching** _ **HOC**_ **lately. (The early seasons, mostly to torture myself.) Anyway, I'm really starting to break away from the timeline of the show, something I warned you about now that I'm up to season five. I hope that's okay, and I don't ruin this story by doing that. (If not, please let me know and I will figure something out.) Oh, and thanks for the reviews!**

 **Chapter Three**

" _What aren't you telling me, Francis?" She asks._

 _Frank didn't want to do this now, but he won't let her go into a situation blindsided._

" _There's a video of you and Emily at the station. They are going to run a story about you…being an unfit mother."_

"What?" Claire asks. Shock sweeps over her features. Based on what happened at the station, if Claire didn't intervene when she did, Emily could've been seriously hurt. Although, Emily might not have been put in that situation if Claire was keeping a better eye on her. Regardless, Frank and Claire need to deal with the article and shut it down before it picks up steam. "Let me see."

Frank is hesitant to show her the article. He skimmed it when Seth first told him about it and knowing what he read, his wife isn't going to react well. His communications director is doing his best to prevent the article from running, but that's unlikely to happen. Along with the video, it's a hit piece on Claire that will cause serious damage to their campaign if handled incorrectly.

"Claire..." Frank trails off when he sees the determination on her face. If he doesn't show her, she will find out for herself. The least he can do is be the one to view it with her and be there for support. He relinquishes his phone to her, watching her enter his password and pull up the article.

" _First Lady Manhandles First Daughter in New York,"_ Claire reads the headline with a heavy sigh. Frank watches his wife's eyes dance across the screen, absorbing every word. "Did you see the video?"

"No." Frank moves closer to her, so his head is hovering over her shoulder. Claire presses play and internally crosses her fingers.

On the video, Claire is seen having her back towards Emily. Emily starts moving towards something, and then Claire grabs the toddler's arm and shakes her. There's no audio on the video, and it's been horribly doctored so the viewer can't see Emily about to jump onto the subway tracks below.

"Conway's people edited this, no doubt," Frank comments and gently takes his phone back from Claire. He knows as much as Claire that it doesn't matter if Emily was in danger or not, what the public sees is what they believe. "What _actually_ happened, Claire?"

"I already told you, Francis," Claire pauses to take a breath, "I was talking with Ken about Tim, Emily interrupted us in tears because she couldn't find her bunny. I told a secret service agent to go downstairs with her to look for it. When I came down, the agent informed me the bunny was thrown onto the tracks. I had my back to her for a moment, and then she started to jump. I grabbed her arm, she fell, and I overreacted and yelled at her."

The more Claire is talking, the more upset she's becoming. Frank places his arms on her shoulders, rubbing them slightly. He knows this article hit a nerve with his wife. She can handle anything thrown her way, except when it comes to Emily.

"Okay, we will do a press conference condemning this kind of attack on you and Emily." Frank furrows his eyebrows when Claire shakes her head.

"No. We need to stay focused on the campaign and not let this distract us, which is exactly what Conway wants."

Frank tilts his head. He's thinking his wife is denial about how damaging this can be for them. Speaking to the press at a time like this to get their version of events out there is crucial. If they don't get ahead of the article, then the press will start creating their own narrative. They've already dealt with something similar during the Adam Galloway scandal, and should be doing the same now.

"Claire, we can't just do nothing."

"We aren't doing nothing. Staying focused requires strength. I won't let them win because of this." Frank gives her a clipped nod. For now, he is going to let her handle this her way. When her denial ultimately gives way to anger and revenge, then he will step in.

Frank follows her out into the hallway, and into the next room where Emily is playing. Emily sees her parents and drops her toys, pointing to the television behind her.

"Mommy, Daddy, I'm on TV!" Emily says, her cerulean eyes wide. Claire deeply swallows and glances over her daughter's head. The TV is muted, but she sees her daughter's picture on the screen.

"You are beautiful," Frank tells Emily. His eyes briefly flicker to the TV, reading the subtitles scrolling across.

"Let's go back home. Your dad has some work he has to finish before we eat," Claire tells Emily. She doesn't want her daughter exposed to the media right now. Luckily, Emily isn't old enough to read, but there are still other ways she can find out what people are saying about her and her parents.

"Okay, I see you later, Daddy?" Emily asks Frank. She dumps her toys into her backpack and scoops up her new bunny resting on the table.

"Of course, darlin'. I'll be home in time to you read you a story." Frank stamps a kiss to the top of Emily's head and watches her leave with Claire.

"Why am I on TV, Mommy?" Emily asks Claire as they are stepping into the residences. Claire bites her lip and thinks of a response suitable for her toddler.

"They were talking about our trip to New York earlier today." _And how they think I abused you,_ Claire thinks to herself.

"I miss my old bunny, but I got new bunny!" Emily exclaims, waving the stuffed animal high in the air. Claire feebly nods, managing a tiny smile at her daughter giggling after hugging her bunny tightly to her body.

"I like your new bunny. Why don't you go play while I cook us dinner?" Emily prances off to her bedroom, babbling incoherently to her new stuffed animal. Claire watches her daughter disappear around the corner.

A few hours later, Frank comes into the residences just as Claire is finishing giving Emily a bath. He pops into the attached bathroom connected to Emily's bedroom.

"Hi Daddy," Emily says when she sees her father. Frank crosses his arms and leans against the doorframe.

"How's it looking?" Claire asks. She took the rest of the afternoon off after the article broke, thinking it wouldn't be wise to be far from Emily right now.

"Not good." A deep frown sets in on Claire's lips. She hoists Emily out of the tub before wrapping her daughter in a towel.

Frank watches Claire dry off Emily while helping the three-year-old get into her pajamas. Due to his wound, he's unable to bend down long enough to help with bath time. Although, tonight, he wants to give his wife a break.

"Em, is it okay if I put you to bed tonight? I think Mommy needs a bath too," Frank says, winking at Emily.

"She not smelly, Daddy," Emily bluntly states. He laughs at his daughter's misunderstanding of what he's trying to say.

"Daddy is going to put you to bed tonight. I'll see you in the morning," Claire stamps a kiss to Emily's cheek and gives her a quick hug. She stands up, brushing past Frank, stopping to squeeze his wrist on her way out.

Frank takes Emily into her bedroom and grabs his daughter's favorite book but decides to set it aside for a moment.

"Em, do you remember what happened at the subway station with your mom earlier?" Frank asks. He wants to get Emily's take on what transpired. Emily nods, her dark brown ringlets bouncing on her shoulder.

"I lost old bunny, but I see him down on the floor. I want to get him, but Mommy went like dis," Emily shows Frank how Claire grabbed her arm. "I got new bunny now."

"And do you know why she grabbed you?"

"Yeah, it not safe to get old bunny. Dat's what Mommy say. She say she not know what she and Daddy do if I get hurt." Frank smiles at his daughter's explanation.

"That's right. We wouldn't want anything bad to happen to you. Listen Em, after what happened today, people are saying that your mom is not a good mom. I think you should tell her that she is. Do you understand?"

"Yes. I tell Mommy 'morrow dat she the best mommy ever!" Emily exclaims. Frank reaches behind him to grab Emily's book.

"Good, I'm sure she would love to hear that from you."

After Emily is asleep, Frank crosses the hall into Claire's bedroom. Some nights he ends up in his wife's bed, and others, he sleeps in his. Eventually, Frank thinks Claire is going to lean on him for support. They are slowly becoming how they used to be with each other, prior to the separation.

Frank eases the door open to Claire's room, spotting his wife sitting at the edge of the bed. The television is on, a rare occurrence for his wife. Besides movies they occasionally watch with Emily, they usually never watch TV.

He can hear the news blaring, and as he steps more into the room, he sees his wife's face on TV. Below her picture is the headline _Is First Lady Claire Underwood a bad mom?_ Frank sighs softly to himself and shoves his hands in his pockets. He doesn't know why his wife is doing this to herself. She's never cared what people thought of her in the past. There's no good reason to start now.

" _We saw how she froze in the interview with Ashleigh Banfield when children were mentioned. And just look how she answered this question during the interview," Sean Hannity, a prominent conservative journalist, says. "Let's play the clip."_

Suddenly, a snippet from the interview Claire gave over two years ago occupies the screen.

" _Well, Francis and I wanted to make sure that we were done campaigning. And then he wanted to get established in Congress and my former company, the Clean Water Initiative, was expanding. We were both too busy to have children, until we weren't," Claire tells Ashleigh._

The clip goes away without showing the whole exchange between Ashleigh and Claire.

" _We were both too busy to have children, until we weren't," Sean repeats with a shake of his head. "That kind of response only comes from a woman who cares more about her career than raising her child. But, who knows? Maybe someone else is doing that for her, and I'm not talking about the president."_

"Claire," Frank says, but his wife isn't listening. Instead, she turns the volume up on the already-loud television.

" _And I have on good authority that she almost let her daughter get kidnapped at a campaign rally last year," Sean continues. "As you can see in this other clip we are about to show you, Emily Underwood is far from her mother, but the First Lady doesn't seem to care. Let's play that one."_

On the second clip, Emily is seen, but not Claire or Frank. The toddler walks up to a man, who is holding out a lollipop for her. The video cuts off before Claire notices what's about to happen and runs over to the toddler.

" _What kind of mother would let their child loose at an event like that with hundreds of strangers? If Claire Underwood can't even take care of her own daughter, how is she going to take care of our country?"_

Frank reaches over and turns off the television. He can't watch Claire torture herself anymore. Claire moves over when Frank sits down next to her.

"We have to find the original video," Frank tells her.

"It won't matter. The press has already made up their minds about me. What if…there's an investigation? What if they take Emily away from us, Francis? I can't…I…" Claire's face begins to crumple as her eyes fill with tears.

Frank wraps his arm around her shoulder, pulling her close to his frame.

"Come here…come here…it's okay…" Frank tells her, drawing her into his chest. She finally gives in, resting her head on his shoulder. His arms coil around her, squeezing her tight. He hates seeing her like this; so full of doubt, so _insecure._ "Listen to me sweetheart, I will not let anyone take Emily away from us."

"What if we don't have a choice?" Claire whispers. Frank dusts a kiss to her hair. It's been a long time since they have been this intimate with each other. She pulls away, wiping her eyes with her fingertips.

"I promise you I won't let that happen. We are going to destroy the Conways' for doing this to us. I have Seth searching for the original video now. We will get the chance to fix this, but we can't give in to them."

"Do you know what Mother said to me before she died?" Claire abruptly asks. Frank frowns, whatever Elizabeth Hale said to his wife couldn't've been pleasant.

"What?"

 _Claire walks into her mother's bedroom, surprised to see Tom Yates and Elizabeth laughing. She hasn't heard her mother laugh in years. Tom leaves, wanting to give Claire some time alone with Elizabeth._

" _You should've married him instead of that awful man you pretend to be married to now," Elizabeth comments. Claire bites her lip. She has to remember that this is the last time she will ever see her mother, and not to let any of Elizabeth's comments get under her skin._

" _Well, I didn't marry Francis for his sense of humor," Claire mumbles while sitting on the edge of the bed next to her mother. Based on how little Elizabeth is eating and getting out bed, her mother doesn't have much time left. Weeks, at most, days, if Claire is lucky._

" _Your daughter, she's a smart girl, Claire," Elizabeth says. Claire tilts her head, wondering where her mother is going with this conversation. It still bothers her Elizabeth won't say Emily's name, but they are beyond that now._

" _She is. She'll be four pretty soon." Elizabeth nods._

" _And one day, she will be smart enough to realize that she will be better off without you and Francis." Claire merely nods. There's no point in fighting back, Elizabeth will just have another hateful comment to retort with._

"What she said…it might be true," Claire mumbles. Frank sighs, no matter how many times he's told Claire she isn't going to turn into Elizabeth, she won't believe it.

"No, it's not. We fought past this." Claire shoots him a disbelieving look.

"There are plenty of people out there who think I'm abusing our daughter." Claire glances over at him, daring him to challenge her.

"We will figure this out," Frank tells her, resting a hand on her cheek before exiting her bedroom. He isn't going to listen to Claire beat herself up over this anymore. It hurts him to see her in so much pain, but the best thing he can do is come up with a plan to get them out of this mess.

The next morning, Claire is pouring coffee for herself and Frank when Emily comes out of her room. The toddler sees her mother, looks over at her father who nods, and makes a beeline to Claire. Emily catches Claire off guard, hooking her arms around her mother's legs.

"Hi Emily," Claire says as she reaches over to hand Frank his coffee. She's curious as to why her toddler is clinging to her this morning. Usually, Emily is far more interested in seeing her father before he leaves for work.

"Mommy, I pfink you are the best," Emily mumbles into Claire's black skirt. Claire smiles when she realizes her husband put their daughter up to this. She bends down and hugs the toddler, winking at her husband over Emily's shoulder.

"Thanks Emily, I love you." Emily detaches from Claire and hops onto her chair for breakfast. Claire sets some fruit in front of Emily and walks over to her seat, squeezing Frank's shoulder on the way.

"Are you coming in today?" Frank asks Claire. His wife can't keep a low profile for much longer. There's a story about the subway station incident on the cover of the _Washington Herald._ They need to address this now.

"Yes. Tom wrote a statement that I think we should use, Francis."

"I read it, but I still think we should find the original video."

"Has Doug come any closer to tracking someone down? There were hundreds of people there with their phones."

"No, but we will, don't worry."

Frank gulps down the rest of his coffee and leaves the table. Claire sends Emily off to school before heading to her own office. She carefully avoids anyone, press or otherwise, looking for a comment on her version of events.

Later on that day, Frank is at a fundraiser, trying to sway last minute voters to their camp. Unfortunately, this event is open to the media, something they didn't care about until the incident yesterday. Frank considered cancelling, but with the way their campaign is going, they need all the help they can get. Especially after Conway announced he's doing a twenty-four hour live-stream that people can't stop discussing.

Frank has to find a way to shut the press down without making it look like he is doing exactly that. He can't cherry pick reporters who he knows won't ask about Emily and Claire.

"Thank you all for coming," Frank begins into the microphone, only to be interrupted by an aide whispering in his ear. "It appears my attention is needed in the Situation Room. We can reschedule a press briefing for later today." He steps away from the podium, only to have a reporter follow him.

"Mr. President, are you worried about leaving your daughter in your wife's care after what happened yesterday?" The reporter, a thin looking man wielding a microphone, shouts to Frank. "Are you worried she's a danger to your daughter?"

Frank whips around and forces himself not to clench his fists. He steps up to the reporter, making sure the camera has an unencumbered view of him. There's no doubt that Conway planted this reporter, but he will not allow anyone to insinuate Claire is a terrible mother.

"My wife is the best mother to our daughter that I could ever hope for. I trust her implicitly with our child and for anyone to suggest that she would harm Emily is both reckless and inexcusable."

Frank storms away before the reporter can ask any more questions.

From her office, Claire is watching the whole thing play out on national television. She smiles at her husband defending her, although he shouldn't've taken the bait.

Claire mutes the television when she hears a knock on the door. Frank pokes his head in, wondering if she's preoccupied. She walks over and hugs him, mumbling her appreciation for standing up for her.

"We need to say something, Claire. We are down two points from when this story broke yesterday," Frank tells her when the separate.

"Alright, I will say what Tom prepared."

The pair are interrupted by another knock on the door. Seth, LeAnn and Doug come in, looking relatively brighter than they did this morning.

"We found someone with the original video," Doug announces, holding his phone.

"Is it enough?" Frank asks. Most of the videos Doug tracked down earlier were cut-up versions, similar to what was released initially.

"It shows everything, audio too. Sir, this will work, but we will have to frame it in a different way," Seth says.

"Meaning what?" Frank asks.

"You want me to admit that I overreacted with Emily," Claire states.

"Yes. It would connect more with voters if you did," LeAnn suggests. Frank is shaking his head.

"I don't want her to have to face more scrutiny, or Emily. Find another way." Claire touches Frank's shoulder.

"This is the only way we can get back on track. Conway is killing us, Francis. It's okay." Claire turns away from her husband, redirecting her attention to Seth, Doug and LeAnn. "Tell Tom to prepare another speech and schedule a press conference for later this afternoon."

The three of them leave, with Frank and Claire still in her office. He steps in front of her, placing his hands on her shoulders.

"You don't have to do this." He doesn't want her to put herself in the crosshairs for him. They can easily find another strategy that will be just as effective.

"You've done everything you can. Let me finish this for us," Claire tells him. He eyes her up and down, knowing she has her mind made up.

"There's a chance this could backfire." Claire nods, her husband is right. The press could end up crucifying her further and their dream of winning the election could be over.

"Do you trust me?" Claire asks. He raises his eyebrows at her; she should know not to even ask him that question.

"More than anyone."

"Let me look at what Tom comes up with, and if it's the wrong move, we can re-evaluate." Frank sighs, he has another meeting to get to, he can't continue to debate this with Claire.

"Alright." He reaches to pinch her cheek and exits her office.

An hour later, Claire is skimming the speech Tom wrote her. Frank joins them, receiving his own copy from Tom. He's hoping this speech will capture the public similar to the one Claire gave after her mother died.

"What do you think, Francis?" Claire asks. If her husband truly thinks this is a bad idea, she will back off.

"It's a good speech," Frank says to her. He kisses her cheek and sends her off into the press room. He's choosing to sit this one out.

"The First Lady is going to give a brief statement, with no Q&A. Behave yourselves, people," Seth says before Claire approaches the podium.

Claire clears her throat and scoops up the remote resting on the podium. She presses play, watching with the rest of the country the real version of what happened yesterday.

" _You cannot do things like that, Emily!" Claire yells at the toddler, shaking her shoulders ever-so-slightly._

Claire watches everyone else watch the video, some in shock after seeing Emily almost jump onto the tracks. The screen goes black and Claire steps closer to the microphone.

"I came out here today, against the advice of all of our political advisers, and even my husband, to tell you that I made a mistake yesterday." Claire says. She takes a second for her comment to sink in. "I turned my back on Emily to speak to a secret service agent, and as most mother's will tell you, don't lose track of your child, not for one second. When I saw my daughter start to jump onto the tracks, I panicked."

As Frank is watching Claire deliver her speech, he wonders if this is the right play for them. His wife isn't as relatable as she thinks she is. He doesn't know if the public will buy the persona she is selling.

"Besides Francis, Emily is the most important person in my life. If something happened to her, I don't know…" Claire trails off. "What hurts me the most, is when I spoke to Emily afterwards, she said 'Mommy you…scared me,'" Claire clears her throat, and Frank watches her eyes fill with tears. He didn't think his wife would allow the nation to see her such a vulnerable state.

"Is this part of your speech?" Frank whispers to Tom, who is standing right next to him. Tom shakes his head and turns his attention back to Claire.

"And…sorry…" Claire quickly presses a finger to her eyelid to capture a tear. "Scaring my daughter hurt more than being called a child abuser, or a neglectful mother on television. It forced me to take a step back and re-evaluate my choices as Emily's mom. And I know what you are thinking, how did you let it escalate that far? Well, sometimes, as parents, we fall short of our own expectations. Sometimes, I let Emily run around the White House without pants on because it's not worth the fight. Sometimes, I let Emily sleep in our bed because I know if she has a bad dream, she's going up there anyways. Being Emily's mother matters more to me than being the First Lady, or even, the next vice president. I made this statement, not as a candidate, but as a mother. Thank you."

Claire steps away, ignoring reporters shouting questions at her. She hopes she repaired the damage caused by this video, and the public can start viewing her favorably again. Frank is waiting for her, reaching to put his arms on her shoulders. He knows as well as she does what parts of her speech were genuine, and what she had to fake.

"Do you think it will be enough?" Claire asks him. Frank rests his hand on the small of her back, gently pushing her out of the press room. He stops for a moment to look directly at her, wanting to clearly convey his message to his wife.

"This is our house, and we are not leaving."

 **A/N 2: Only a few chapters left! What do you want to see as we get closer to the end? Do you want me to turn it back towards the show or can I keep making my own stuff up? I have some ideas, but I would really like to hear from you. Please leave a review on your way out, and thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Welcome back! I appreciate your reviews and your continued support on this. As I've stated before, this story doesn't really follow** _ **HOC**_ **as well as my previous ones, mostly due to the timeline of the show. However, I throw in some elements of season five at necessary points. I hope you enjoy the latest installment.**

 **Chapter Four**

" _Do you think it will be enough?" Claire asks him. Frank rests his hand on the small of her back, gently pushing her out of the press room. He stops for a moment to look directly at her, wanting to clearly convey his message to his wife._

" _This is our house, and we are not leaving."_

Claire gives him a clipped nod and leads the way back to the Oval Office. Seth, LeAnn and Doug are already waiting for them. They are expecting the president and First Lady to ask to brief them about the media coverage surrounding Claire's press conference just moments earlier.

"How's it looking?" Frank asks the three of them while shutting the office door.

"It could go either way right now," Seth says. "The video and press conference should help sway people in our direction."

"I've been keeping tabs on Twitter. People are sharing their relatable parenting moments on here with the hashtag 'Sometimes I' after your speech. Take a look," LeAnn announces and hands the phone over to Claire.

Claire scrolls through the tweets, and then passes the phone to her husband.

"Do you think it will be enough?" Claire asks. The election is on the line. They have to do everything they can to squash the negative press surrounding this story.

"It's too early to tell, Mrs. Underwood. It would help if Emily were a part of this story…in a positive way." Doug says. He knows how picky Claire and Frank are about Emily's media exposure. Unfortunately, the choice was taken out of their hands with the scandal that erupted yesterday.

Doug is expecting his boss to immediately shut it down, but he sees the hesitation on Frank's face.

"We will talk about it. Let us know if something else comes up," Frank says, essentially dismissing Doug, Seth and LeAnn.

Claire hovers in his office, watching her husband walk over to his desk chair and sit down. She steps forward, running her fingertips along the polished mahogany of the desk.

"Doug has a point, Claire. It might be worth taking Emily out in public," Frank says. He watches his wife frown at the idea.

"I don't know, Francis. I hate the way they are writing about her. I don't want to give them any more ammunition."

Frank understands why Claire is hesitant about the idea, but the press is going to write about their daughter regardless. It might be better for them to attempt to shift the narrative in a positive direction.

"Emily's birthday is a couple of days. She loves that little ice cream place around the corner. We can take her privately. The press doesn't have to know."

Claire mulls over her husband's suggestion. It could work, knowing that the press would inevitably follow their every move once they get wind of the First Family stepping out of the White House. And, Frank's right, it would be a great early birthday treat for their daughter.

"Okay, we can go tonight, as a family." Frank smiles as his wife is leaving. They haven't done anything just the three of them unrelated to the campaign in a long time. Not prior to Claire leaving him.

Later on that night, Claire is helping Emily get zipped in her jacket while they are waiting for Frank. The little girl jumped at the chance to leave the White House with _both_ of her parents. Usually, her father is too preoccupied with the campaign or other presidential matters to have time to escape.

"We goin' to get ice cweam!" Emily announces while bouncing on the balls of her feet. Claire tries to steady the toddler so she can zip her up without entangling her long, brunette hair. "Daddy! We goin' to get ice cweam!"

Frank walks into the residences with his jacket already on. Claire told him how excited their daughter is to go, so he wanted to be ready to leave immediately. Emily bolts over to him, tugging on his hand as Claire slides on her coat.

Claire trails behind them, letting her husband and daughter have their time together. She smiles to herself when she hears Emily babbling to Frank. Despite never wanting children, Emily has her husband wrapped around her finger.

"Daddy, when are you gonna win?" Emily asks while they are clearing the White House lawn. Frank insisted on walking to the ice cream store and are now accompanied by a heavy detail.

"The election's in a few days, Em," Frank answers another one of Emily's continuous rapid-fire questions.

"What if you lose, Daddy? Are you not gonna be pwesident anymore?" Emily asks. Frank glances over at his wife, who has been silent for the majority of their walk. As much as they want to win, they haven't prepared their daughter in case they lose. It's a reality that Frank and Claire are not comfortable discussing.

Frank reaches over and grabs Claire's hand with his free one. People are starting to notice the three of them and are taking out their phones to capture their every movement. They need to present a united front.

"If Daddy and I lose, then we won't be president and vice president. We will move back to the other house," Claire explains.

"But we are doing everything we can to make sure that doesn't happen," Frank adds in. Due to the amount of people starting to crowd around them, he asks Claire to pick Emily up. He still can't hold their daughter because of his wound. Plus, it would look better if Claire was holding her instead of him.

When they arrive at the ice cream shop, secret service does an initial sweep of the area before letting them come in. Enough people have gathered around them that it's starting to scare the toddler. Emily is clinging to Claire fiercely, and isn't as talkative as she was before.

"I don't want any of these people near Emily," Frank tells secret service. He's wondering if this was a bad idea. The three-year-old is still weary of strangers, especially large groups of people. The agent nods and starts working on crowd control.

Frank opens the door for Claire to step in with Emily. He can tell his wife is trying to distract their daughter by telling her about the flavors she can get. They step into the line, not wanting to cut ahead, despite many offers to.

"Daddy, what are you gonna get?" Emily asks. Frank leans forward, looking at the myriad of flavors. He looks up to see a homeless-looking man staring intensely at Claire and Emily. Frank instinctively steps closer to them. The man scratches his days-old stubble and steps out of line, walking towards the three of them.

A secret service agent steps forward, inching near Frank and Claire. Like Frank, he has his eyes on the man.

"I think I'm going to get strawberry. What about you?" Frank asks to Emily.

"Francis," Claire whispers and gestures her head to where the man is standing, mere feet from them. She swivels so her back is to him, not wanting Emily to see what is about to happen.

"Oh, so you bring your daughter out in public for a show! How pathetic!" The man yells at Claire. Frank intervenes, blocking Claire entirely from this person.

"If you wouldn't mind, we are here with our daughter. We don't want any trouble," Frank says to him. Based on how glazed over this man's eyes are, Frank has to guess that he's either drunk, high, or both.

"This is between me and your wife, Mr. President. What? You got nothing to say?" The man hollers at Claire. Emily shifts in Claire's arms, and Frank can see tears brimming in the toddler's cerulean eyes.

"Alright, you said your piece. Now _go,_ " Frank insists. More people are starting to take notice of this scene, and Frank doesn't want anything to be further misinterpreted like the subway fiasco earlier.

"It's okay, honey," Claire whispers to Emily. She makes the mistake of moving slightly away from Frank, giving the man an opportunity to quickly maneuver around her husband.

"I'm not going to tell you again. Leave my wife alone," Frank says, stepping in front of Claire and Emily again. A secret service agent grabs the sleeve of the man's sweatshirt, tearing him away from the First Family.

"Your wife is an elitist, child-abusing bitch!" The man screams at Claire and tilts his head back. Before Frank realizes what he's trying to do, the man spits at Claire. Secret service swoops in and takes the man out of the store. "Tell Conway I want to be paid for this! Tell Conway that I did this for him!"

Frank turns to his wife, resting his hand on her shoulder. He reaches behind him for a napkin, handing it to her so she can wipe the spit off her face. Emily is sobbing into Claire's shoulder, her entire body trembling.

"Take her for a minute," Claire tells Frank. He grimaces as Emily's weight is shifted onto his body.

"It's okay, sweetheart," Frank whispers to Emily. "It's okay." He gestures to the teenager behind the counter to hand him Emily's ice cream. "Here, do you want your ice cream?"

Emily peeks her head out from Frank's shoulder and nods, reaching for her ice cream. Frank feels terrible Emily's early birthday celebration was ruined by the man with a vendetta against his wife. On the bright side, they could use this against Conway for inciting violence.

"Are you okay?" Frank whispers to Claire, skimming his hand on her shoulder blade.

"Yes, we should go."

It's only a matter of time before the media gets a hold of the situation here, and Emily is still rattled. Claire takes Emily back from Frank after seeing the pain creeping into his features.

"I want a clear path to the White House. I don't want anyone coming within ten feet of Claire and Emily. Do you understand?" Frank asks the secret service agent in charge. He doesn't appreciate the agents letting someone get close enough to spit on Claire.

"Yes sir," The agent speaks into his microphone and nods at Frank, giving him a go-signal to leave the ice cream store.

Emily is quietly eating her ice cream the whole way back to the residences. Frank keeps eyeing Claire, wanting to make sure she is truly okay. She's had a tough few days, given everything that's happened.

"I'll put Emily to bed," Frank tells Claire when they arrive at the residences. Claire nods and gives Emily a hug goodnight.

"Goodnight Mommy," Emily whispers. Her eyes and nose are still rosy from crying. Claire feels horrible for subjecting Emily to what's transpired, but she can't help it.

"We will do something extra special for your birthday," Claire insists. Although, if they lose the election, it's doubtful Frank will feel like celebrating the toddler's birthday next week.

"Okay," Emily says and follows Frank to her bedroom.

"Daddy, why dat guy mean to Mommy?" Emily asks while she's climbing into her bed. Frank sets the book he was going to read aside.

"There are people out there who believe bad things about me and your mom. And some people need to tell us how they feel, like that man tonight." Emily nods in comprehension.

"I 'fraid, Daddy." Frank sighs and carefully reaches over to pinch Emily's cheek.

"Em, there's no reason to be afraid. Your mom and I will always protect you from people like that. You don't have to worry."

Frank reads his daughter's favorite book until she's asleep. He goes to find his wife in her bedroom, wanting to check-in before he goes back to the Oval.

"Hey," Frank mumbles. Claire is watching the news in her bedroom, similar to when he found her the other day. She mutes the television while he sits down next to her at the foot of her bed.

"Is Emily okay?" Claire asks.

"She said she was afraid…" Frank trails off when he sees the guilt explode onto his wife's face. "but, I told her that there was no reason to be. I think she's already past it."

"Good. The media is definitely turning in our favor after what happened tonight. Someone uploaded a video of that man spitting on me."

Frank traces his finger on her cheek over the spot where the man's spit landed on her.

"Are _you_ okay?"

"I'm fine." His eyes scan her up and down. He was expecting her to be more upset, and not smirking like she is now.

"You planted him, didn't you?" He asks in shock. Claire's tiny smirk turns into a full-fledged grin.

"I thought the spit was a nice touch. Although, I wish he didn't get so close to Emily." Frank's jaw drops at Claire's admission. He's impressed by her deviousness, but a little hurt she didn't include him on her idea.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I wanted to make sure your reaction was genuine. I knew your overprotective instincts would kick in the second that guy starting walking towards me and Emily."

"Don't be ridiculous, I'm not overprotective." Claire shoots him a disbelieving look.

"Francis, you wouldn't let anyone within five feet of me when I was pregnant with Emily." Frank begins to protest, but Claire shuts him down. "You had a harder time with Emily's first day of school than I did."

" _Are you sure she needs to go to that school?" Frank shouts from the bathroom. Claire is getting dressed in their walk-in closet and rolls her eyes. They've had this discussion multiple times this week about Emily going to school._

" _Yes, Francis. I think it would be good for her to socialize with other kids her age. She's always around us or the nanny." Due to their busy schedules, Frank and Claire don't have the time or inclination to retain a group of friends, especially those with children. They don't want their daughter to suffer because of it._

" _I still think she's too young. Maybe we should wait a year," Frank says as he approaches Claire from behind to zip her charcoal dress._

" _She's excited, Francis. It's only for a couple hours a few days a week. If she hates it, we can talk then."_

 _Claire knows this has nothing do with Emily's age, and everything to do with Frank having difficulty accepting their daughter is growing up._

" _Fine." Frank relents with a quick peck on the lips and heads downstairs._

 _Claire gets Emily dressed and brings her into the kitchen._

" _Look Daddy, I dwess like Mommy," Emily announces, pointing to her own gray t-shirt dress she insisted on wearing for her first day of school._

 _Staring at her for a few seconds, Frank says nothing, giving her a sad smile. He didn't think he would have this sort of reaction to his daughter starting school._

" _Francis?" Claire asks after noting the way Frank is staring at Emily._

" _You look very nice, Em." Frank mumbles before focusing on reading the newspaper. Claire hides her smile behind her hand. She was expecting the roles to be reversed and Frank having to reassure her that they are doing the right thing by sending Emily off to school._

 _The car rolls to a stop in front of Emily's preschool and Claire steps out to unhook Emily from her car seat. Frank remains seated, locking eyes with his wife. He's been quiet since they climbed into the car, pretending to stare intently out the window on the drive over._

" _You okay?" Claire asks, reaching past Emily to squeeze her husband's hand. He nods, giving a reassuring squeeze back._

" _I'm going to stay in the car. I have a few calls to make." Frank tells her. "Have a good first day, Em."_

 _Claire lifts her eyebrows in surprise but doesn't question it. Emily leans over and hugs her dad before hopping out of the car. The toddler grabs Claire's hand, waving to her father with her other one._

" _She's going be fine," Claire assures Frank on the drive over to her office._

" _Did you see all of the people that were dropping their kids off? That school is practically crawling with children of Republicans."_

 _Claire lets out a chuckle at the absurdity of her husband's statement. She leans her head on his shoulder briefly._

" _I never thought you would be the one who would have a harder time with this. Especially since you were the one who didn't want her in the first place."_

" _I just want to make sure she is safe." Claire tilts her head up to look at Frank._

" _She is, honey."_

"Regardless, we have to get ahead of this thing. Conway is going to hit back even harder, and nobody can ever know that you were behind this." Frank says, bypassing Claire's comment.

"I already had Seth put out a statement condemning Conway for encouraging his supporters to attack us. And LeAnn is quietly paying off the guy we hired."

Frank leans forward, capturing Claire's chin with the pad of his thumb.

"I love you," he whispers. Claire momentarily hesitates. They haven't said those three words to each other since Frank left for the Jordan Valley.

"I love you too," she whispers back, kissing him briefly on the lips. She watches him leave, thinking this was a gigantic step forward for them.

In the days leading up to the election, things have been tense between Frank and Claire. They are running around various parts of the country, wanting to put in some face time before the country votes. Days with little sleep are starting to take its toll on their marriage. They've been bickering a lot, something they rarely do with each other.

Finally, Claire decides that they need to take a step back from the campaign and spend some time with Emily. They have barely seen their daughter since the disastrous ice cream trip the week prior. Frank suggests watching _Double Indemnity_ with Emily, sharing a time-honored pre-election ritual that he and Claire have.

Frank and Claire are sitting next to each other in the screening room, with Emily on Claire's side. Frank reaches for Claire's hand, watching his wife firmly grasp it, never taking her eyes off the movie.

"Why are we watchin dis?" Emily asks, shoving some popcorn into her mouth. The black-and-white picture isn't enthralling the toddler, who doesn't comprehend the significance this movie holds for her parents.

"This is a tradition your mother and I have before every important election, Em. Let's do this one," Frank tells Claire. _"I'd drive it around the block a few times."_

" _Mr. Neff why don't you drop by tomorrow around 8:30? He'll be in then_ ," Claire says, quoting the movie as it plays. She stands up, walking towards the screen. Frank follow suit, leaving Emily sitting there watching her parents.

" _Who?"_

" _My husband. You were anxious to talk to him, weren't you?_

The pair go back and forth, quoting movie lines to each other. Emily watches them with wonder, wanting to join in on her parents' fun.

"I'm just not in the mood," Claire says as Frank skims his hand down her arm.

"Oh no. Come on, it's tradition. If Doug needs us, he'll call."

"Yes, but it's different this time. There's so much going on…"

"I know, but call me superstitious…"

"We're in here…"

"But we have done this every election we have ever won."

Claire relents and they go back to quoting the movie to each other, sitting down in their previous spots. Emily sits in Claire's lap, both turning their heads when they hear the phone ring. Claire tells Emily about the movie, while they listen to Frank become frustrated on the phone.

He slams the phone down, and Emily looks up at Claire, silently asking why her father is so upset.

"What's the matter?" Claire asks.

"There's something wrong with the numbers in the precincts that we're getting from the morning. They don't match up. It's never happened before in South Carolina."

Claire hesitates with her response, seeing how angry her husband is. With Emily in the room, she wants to disarm him before this erupts into an argument between them.

Frank gets more irritated by his wife's silence. She's been acting distant these past few days, similar to how she was before she left him. Frank thinks it's because Claire believes they are going to lose and doesn't want to admit it. He turns to face her, seeing accepting popcorn from Emily.

"Well you have nothing to say about that?" Frank snaps at her. Claire glares at him, her eyes flickering down to the top of Emily's head.

"Oh, I'm sure the numbers are wrong."

"Oh, you don't believe that for a second." Frank leans back exasperatedly in his chair. Claire doesn't want to bring it up in front of Emily, but she can't take much more of his temperament.

"I can't win with you. No matter what I say…" There's a brief pause and Claire switches tactics. "How many times did you walk me home?"

"What?" Frank asks. He's curious as to why she is bringing up their history at a time like this. Nevertheless, he'll play along. "Oh, I don't know. Probably a handful."

"No, it wasn't a handful. It was 18..in a month." Claire picks Emily up, setting her down in the recliner she was previously sitting in.

"It was on my way home," Frank reluctantly says. Claire stands up, blocking the screen, so her husband has no choice but to talk to her. "Nothing. It was on my way home."

"No, it wasn't just on your way home. We tried to go to the Museum of Fine Arts. It was closed. It was freezing that day." Frank stands up, walking up to his wife. Emily remains silent through this whole exchange, reaching for the remote in an attempt to change the channel.

"Yeah." Frank says. Claire walks over and scoops up Emily.

"And this was on your room."

"It was."

"And I asked you to kiss me. I made you kiss me."

"No, you didn't make me kiss you. I wanted to kiss you." Claire shifts her eyes down to Emily.

"Don't believe your daddy, Emily. He was so scared to kiss me, I had to grab his face." Frank scoffs, shaking his head so the toddler can see.

"Don't lie to our daughter like that."

"And anyway, I knew we were going to spend the rest of our lives together." He reaches to place his hands on her shoulders. She places her free hand on his chest.

"And we are. You, me and Emily. In the Oval. Just like we planned. You first, and then me, and then Emily later on down the line."

"Sir," Doug says as him and LeAnn are entering the screening room. Frank hits pause on the movie and Claire sets Emily down, encouraging her to play on her iPad while the adults speak. Sadly, the news is grim. Voter turnout is low , much lower than they anticipated. And the scales are tipping in Conway's favor.

Frank is rapidly losing his temper with his staff, and Claire. They didn't come this far for Frank to be a placeholder president, but by this time tomorrow, that's all he might be.

"How am I supposed win if my own goddamn staff aren't doing their jobs!" Frank exclaims. Emily spins around, frightened by her dad's voice.

"Sir, voting centers are closing, we couldn't've predicted the numbers," LeAnn states. Claire inadvertently winces. Her husband won't tolerate their campaign advisers' answer.

"It is your _exact_ job to predict things like this. I _will_ win by any means necessary, and if you can't help me, then find someone who fucking can!" Frank yells and storms off. Claire glances over at Emily, sighing when she realizes her daughter witnessed the whole thing. She isn't going to trail after her husband like usual. Talking to him when he's like this will go nowhere.

"Just stay reachable. I will talk to him in a little bit," Claire sends them away. Her and Frank need to talk about their contingency plan, but she's going to give him time to cool down.

Doug and LeAnn leave, and Claire takes Emily back to the residences. She's assuming Frank holed himself up in either the Oval or his study. After she feeds Emily and puts her to bed, she will try and locate her husband.

"Is Daddy mad at you, Mommy?" Emily asks. She remembers her mom being mad at her dad before they left for Dallas. Maybe this time, it's the other way around. Claire sits down on the edge of her daughter's bed.

"No, Emily. He's just upset because there's a big chance we might not win tomorrow. He really wants us to stay here."

"I wanna stay, too. I don't wanna go back to Dallas," Emily whispers, bringing her bunny closer to her body. Claire stomach knots up when she realizes her daughter thinks they are going to leave Frank again.

"Oh no, Emily, we can't go back there. We are staying with Daddy, I promise. Have a good sleep." Claire presses a kiss to the top of her daughter's head and quietly shuts the door behind her.

In the living room of the residences, Claire asks one of the stewards if they've seen Frank in the past few hours.

"I believe he is in his study, ma'am. I can call over there if you'd like," a steward tells Claire.

"No, that's okay. Thank you." Claire wouldn't subject one of the stewards to Frank in his current state.

She walks into the study and bites her lip at what she sees; a broken lamp strewn out across the floor, papers that were probably thrown from the desk.

"Francis?" Claire cautiously yells out. She walks further into the room, spotting her husband sitting against his desk. His knees are bent, his arms wrapped around them. Claire can't tell if he's crying or had been before.

He looks up at her, and she sees the rage and anguish flickering in his cognac-colored eyes. She bends down, wrapping her arm around his back, gently laying him down on the carpet below. Frank is quiet as she takes off his pants and underwear, following suit with her own panties and skirt.

Claire climbs on top of his now-naked lower half. He moans slightly, feeling her grind her hips against his. Her pace quickens. Frank leans forward and grabs her hand splayed out on his chest. He sits up, effortlessly matching Claire's rhythm. His arm slinks behind her back, supporting them both.

No words are spoken between them, but they don't break eye contact with each other; not for a moment. He's grateful she's doing this for him, without having to ask. He needed this, _they_ needed this if they are going to make it through the election as a unit.

He does a full thrust into her, feeling himself starting to climax. Frank lets out a final moan and presses his forehead into her shoulder. Their chests are both heaving as they try to regulate their breathing. They haven't been intimate like this with each other in almost two years.

He lifts his head back up, so his forehead is touching hers.

"We're going to win tomorrow, Francis," she whispers, her own high tapering off. His hand comes up to splash across her cheek. "We just have to initiate our plan."

 **A/N 2: That's all you get for now! I have to admit, I'm a little stuck as to where I want this story to go. I could really use some ideas/suggestions on what you think I should include, particularly with Emily's storyline. Anything helps! Thanks for reading.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Anyone who has read my fics know that I always have to say thank you. I appreciate everyone who has ever read and/or reviewed my writing so much. We are getting close to the end, but I still have a few more chapters left in me for you guys. Also, I just want to mention, I've all but abandoned the** _ **HOC**_ **timeline because I feel I've done enough with it in previous chapters. Please enjoy the latest installment.**

 **Chapter Five**

His morning—their morning—was normal, until this. The news lands on him like tiny bombs. He can only process it in pieces at a time. A Secret Service agent interrupts his morning briefing to deliver a debilitating blow. His mouth runs dry when the words "First Lady" and "your daughter" and "accident" are strung together to form a sentence.

Frank excuses his assistants immediately, ordering the Secret Service to prepare a detail. The Oval is cleared out, and Frank reaches into his desk to grab his phone. He presses on Claire's contact information, only to get his wife's voicemail on the other end.

"Do we know anything?" Frank asks for what has to be the hundredth time since leaving the White House gate. The Secret Service agent, a bald, African American man, shakes his head.

"No, I'm sorry, sir. All we know was it was a collision with another vehicle on the street near your daughter's school." Frank chews on his bottom lip. The agent who initially informed him about the crash didn't say anything regarding the nature of the accident.

"Were there any…fatalities reported?" Frank chokes on the word, forcing it out of his mouth.

"I'm sorry, sir. We just don't know. They are being transported by ambulance to the hospital at the moment. Your wife is unconscious."

"And my daughter?" Frank puts his hand over his mouth, slowly dragging it down to his chin.

"We haven't heard anything about your daughter, sir. We will put our sirens on."

Claire was supposed to drop Emily off at school over an hour ago. She usually rushes back to the White House to start her meetings shortly after him. Claire was due to join him in a meeting starting in ten minutes with the Joint Chiefs since she is the current vice president.

As part of their plan, Claire and Frank wreaked havoc on the electoral college system, resulting in a very narrow win for the Underwoods'. Conway had no choice but to concede, disappearing quietly into the fray.

" _It looks like the current president, Frank Underwood, will remain in the White House for another four years, winning Ohio by a slight margin." Anderson Cooper of CNN announces. Frank is watching on a laptop in the living room of the residences with Claire. He turns to her, a wide grin forming on his face. They did it. They won._

 _Claire steps into his awaiting arms, pressing her forehead against his shoulder. He rubs her back, squeezing her shoulder blade as she pulls away._

" _Congratulations, Mr. President," Claire whispers._

" _Congratulations, Mrs. Vice President." Frank presses a firm kiss to her lips. Their lips separate with a loud smack._

" _We need to tell Em," Frank says, grasping Claire's hand, pulling her towards their daughter's room._

" _Francis, it's late. She's already asleep—" Claire trails off when she sees the excitement on his face. She wordlessly follows him into Emily's room. The little girl awakens immediately, rubbing her tired eyes._

" _What's wrong Mommy and Daddy?" Emily asks. Frank sits down on his daughter's bed while Claire stands behind him, resting her hand on his shoulder._

" _Nothing, Em. We won," Frank announces. It takes Emily a second to grasp what her father is saying. All of the sudden, joy eclipses the toddler's face._

" _You the pwesident again, Daddy?" Emily's cerulean eyes expand as she claps her hands. Frank senses Claire squeeze his shoulder._

" _Yes, and your mom is now the vice president." Emily jumps into Frank's lap, forgetting momentarily about her mother's warnings to still be cautious around her father._

" _Can I be the vice vice pwesident, Daddy?" Emily asks. Claire brushes a loose strand of hair away from her daughter's face._

" _Of course you can," Frank tells Emily._

Now, Frank might have to find an interim vice president, depending on his wife's condition. If she can't perform her duties as vice president, then someone will have to do it for her while she recovers. Hopefully, it won't come to that, but Frank would be remiss if he wasn't prepared.

 _Emily first, and then Claire._ Frank reminds himself as they are pulling up to the hospital. Secret Service does their usual sweep of the area, clearing the room for Frank. He's cordoned off into a private room, away from the other patients and their families. Nobody has told him anything about Claire and Emily yet.

"Mr. President?" An older, Hispanic nurse asks as she's sliding back the glass door of the room Frank is stashed in. She pulls the curtain for privacy before addressing Frank again.

Frank pockets his cell phone after shooting a quick text to Doug. He stands up, offering his hand for the nurse to shake.

"Where are my wife and daughter?" Frank asks. The nurse gestures for him to sit in an uncomfortable-looking plastic chair.

"Your daughter is being treated for minor injuries to the face and arms. I can bring you over to her as soon as we are done here." He's relieved that Emily escaped with a few cuts and scratches, but it makes him uneasy that he hasn't heard anything about Claire yet.

"And my wife?" The nurse clears her throat, switching folders in her hands.

"Your wife's injuries are more severe, I'm afraid. She suffered a concussion, whiplash, a gash on her arm and contusions to her face. The doctor wants to keep her overnight for observation, but she should make a full recovery." Frank lets out a deep breath and nods.

"When can I see her?" He needs to see for himself that Claire and Emily are okay.

"She is getting an MRI to rule out any additional head trauma and then will be placed in a private room. It should be no more than an hour or so. I can take you to see your daughter if you'd like. She's pretty upset."

"Thank you." Frank follows the nurse out into the hallway and down the hall to the pediatric emergency room.

"Your daughter is in the second room on the left," the nurse tells Frank. Frank thanks the nurse again and walks over to the room where his daughter is. Emily is sitting up in bed, holding a blanket securely to her chest while watching a movie on a television affixed to the wall. An agent is seated in the corner, flipping through a newspaper.

Frank sighs in relief when his daughter turns to look at him. She has tiny cuts on the side of her face, but no other notable injuries.

"Hi Em."

"Daddy!" Emily drops the blanket and stands up on the bed. Frank leaves her on the bed, hugging her tightly before letting go.

"What happened?" He figures he will get a more detailed account from his wife later, but he wants to hear his now four-year-old daughter's version first.

"Mommy and I were in a car, and the oder car hit us on the side by Mommy. Where's Mommy?" Emily's cerulean eyes brim with tears as she frantically looks around the hospital room for her mother.

"She's getting help from the doctor's right now. We can see her soon. Are you saying the car hit your mom's side of your car?"

"Yeah. She was askin' me what I do at school today and den the car hit us. Is she hurt, Daddy?" Frank nods,

"She has to stay here overnight, but she will be fine, Em. We can see her as soon as the doctor's let us, okay?"

Emily is still clinging to Frank, so much so that he uncoils his daughter's hand from the collar of his white dress shirt. He can't imagine how scared Emily must've been when Claire was taken away by the doctors. Frank wishes more than anything he was in the car with his wife and daughter. Maybe the outcome would've been different.

"Daddy, Mommy sleepin' in the car," Emily informs her father. Frank furrows his eyebrows,

"What do you mean Em?"

"After the car hit me and Mommy, she sleepin'. I not though. Like when Mommy give blood to help dem sick people."

Frank forgot Emily was there when Claire fainted after giving blood during a campaign stop a while ago. He remembers how guilty Claire felt that their daughter was there to witness that. Hopefully, Emily won't mention this to Claire when they see her.

"Mommy is okay, sweetheart. We will see her soon. Do you want to watch the rest of your movie?" Frank asks. He thinks his daughter needs to be distracted for the time being. They can worry about Claire when they are allowed to see her later on.

A few hours pass by until a pediatrician comes to formally discharge Emily. Frank returns to the main area of the hospital, where he was when he first arrived.

"Mr. President, your wife has been moved to a private room on the fifth floor. I can take you up there if you'd like." The same nurse who first informed Frank of Claire's condition says.

"Yes, thank you." Emily scampers ahead, still holding onto Frank's hand. The toddler frowns and falls back in-step when she notices her father isn't matching pace with her.

The nurse weaves them through hospital corridors until they reach an empty hallway on the fifth floor. The curtain is shielding Claire from the rest of the world. A Secret Service agent is posted outside, stepping away from the door when he sees Frank and Emily.

"Go on in," The nurse says and gives Emily a lollipop. Emily looks to her father for permission to dive into the candy. He nods, tearing off the wrapper for her.

"Open the door, Em," Frank tells his daughter. Emily slides open the door, beaming when she sees her mother sitting upright in bed.

"Mommy!" Emily yells, running over to Claire. Suddenly, she remembers what her mother told her after her father came home from the hospital and comes to a screeching halt at the foot of Claire's bed.

Frank feels his entire body relax when he sees Claire. For the past few hours, he's been assuming the worst about his wife's condition. To know that she is awake and cognizant is a weight off his shoulders.

"Hi Emily," Claire whispers. She's had a pounding headache ever since she woke up in the ambulance hours earlier. Her daughter's loud voice is like little hammers hitting her skull.

Frank drinks in the sight of his wife as he steps closer to her bed. She has gauze wrapped around her thin wrist and deep scratches on her face and neck. It appears Claire absorbed most of the crash rather than Emily.

"Hey," Frank mumbles, matching Claire's volume of voice. He knows his wife doesn't feel well—something she's trying to downplay for Emily's sake. He approaches the other side of the bed and grabs her hand.

"Francis, I'm fine," Claire says in a quiet, but firm voice. She doesn't need him looking at her with such worry, it makes her feel inadequate. He leans over and stamps a kiss to the side of her head.

"How do you feel?" He asks again, wanting to hear her honest answer. Claire watches Emily attempt to hop onto her bed. The toddler eventually reaches her destination without the help of her parents. She lets her head fall back into Claire's shoulder, eliciting a groan from her. "What is it?"

"My shoulder hurts a little," Claire whispers. She looks away from her husband to catch a tear in the corner of her eye. Frank gently moves the gown away from his wife's neck, exposing the deep, violet bruises on her shoulder.

"Did they look at this?" Frank asks while skimming his thumb over the contusion.

"Yes." Claire shifts Emily over to the less injured side of her body.

"What happened?" Frank asks. Claire shakes her head, and then winces at the motion.

"All I remember is approaching Emily's school, and then another car hit my side. I don't remember anything after that." Claire abruptly pushes the covers back, sliding her legs out from the blankets. Frank stands up, wondering what his wife is doing.

"Claire, you shouldn't—" He barely finishes his sentence and Claire's legs start to buckle. He swiftly reaches over, coiling his arm around her waist. Due to his wound, he can't support her body weight, just enough to keep her from falling to the floor.

"Francis I can—" She stops herself when an onslaught of nausea hits her. Claire reluctantly allows her husband to escort her to the bathroom and back to her bed.

Emily moves aside so her mother can lay back down. Frank scoots a chair closer to Claire's hospital bed. His phone buzzes, it's Doug needing him back at the White House.

"I have to go. Emily, get your stuff together." Frank can't leave Emily here while Claire is trying to recover. The needy toddler is already showing signs of boredom. Emily quickly hops off the bed and rushes over to her coat, haphazardly swinging it over her shoulders.

"I should be discharged tomorrow. You are going to have to get Emily up and ready for school," Claire tells him. Frank leans down and brushes a kiss to her cheek.

"I've done it before, sweetheart. I am her father." Claire glares at him while hugging Emily goodbye. Before and during their separation, Claire did most of the heavy lifting when it came to Emily. Frank contributed by putting the toddler to bed and occasionally watching her during the days Claire had to fly to New York for her brief ambassadorship.

"You've done it _once_ before and we remember how that turned out."

 _Frank rolls over, awakened by what sounds like someone throwing up in the adjoining bathroom. He sits up in bed, peering through the open door connecting the master bedroom to the bathroom. Claire is hunched over, dry heaving into the toilet bowl. Immediately, he gets up, rushing over to assist his wife._

" _Hi," Claire mumbles, blindly reaching to flush the toilet. Frank does a half-turn, grabbing an empty glass and filling it with water._

" _Hi. Here," Frank hands her the glass, watching her gulp it down. "What do you think this is?" Claire holds up her finger, briefly gagging and spitting into the toilet._

" _I don't know." Frank pauses for a moment, his eyes widening like saucers._

" _Are you pregnant?" The only time he remembers her throwing up like this is when she was suffering from morning sickness._

" _No. I already took a test. It's probably just a stomach thing."_

" _Good." Claire nods in agreement. Frank just became the vice president, the last thing they need is another child. They hear Emily stir on the monitor on Claire's side of the bed. "I'll get her, stay here."_

 _Frank disappears into Emily's room, getting her dressed and fed. He explains to the two-year-old that her mother is sick and can't take her to school like she usually does. Somehow, she convinces Frank to let her bring some breakfast—which consists of milk and cereal—to Claire to help her feel better._

" _Okay, set it down over there," Frank instructs Emily, who is carrying a bowl of cereal into the bedroom. Claire has migrated back to their bed, grinning at the image of her daughter heavily concentrating on keeping the cereal from spilling as she walks._

" _Here you go, Mommy! You get all better!" Emily declares, setting the bowl down on the nightstand. Claire smiles as she looks at her daughter, who undoubtedly picked out her own clothes._

" _Thank you, Emily." Claire appreciates the gesture, but her stomach can't handle any solid foods at the moment. Frank loops a tie around his neck, putting the finishing touches on his suit for the day._

" _Daddy, let's go!" Emily orders. Frank winks at Claire and waves goodbye._

" _Francis, come here." Frank walks over to her, gently pinching her cheek._

" _Do you need something before I leave?" Claire is biting her lip to keep her smile at bay._

" _Honey, Emily's pants are on backwards." Frank glances at Emily standing in the doorway with her backpack. Sure enough, the little girl's black jeans are reversed. He lets out an irritated sigh, much to Claire's amusement._

" _Call me if you need anything."_

"What about this?" Frank asks the next morning. He's holding up a lilac t-shirt dress he's seen Emily wear a few times. Not surprisingly, Emily shakes her head. The toddler has refused every outfit Frank has suggested. "Emily, what do you want to wear?"

His patience is wearing thin with his little girl. Usually, Claire has Emily dressed and shuffled into the kitchen for breakfast by the time he's dressed and ready to eat. Today, he's developed a newfound appreciation for his wife. Parenting a toddler isn't easy by any means, but Claire does it effortlessly.

Emily pouts with her hands crossed over her chest.

"Daddy, I wanna be pwesidental," Emily complains. She points to the other side of her closet, hidden by a sliding door. Frank lets out the tiniest chuckle of amusement at his daughter. He has no idea where she came up with that, but he will oblige.

"Fine. Get off the bed and show me what you want to wear." Emily happily hops off her bed and runs over to her closet, using her full weight to push the door aside. She decides on a black tulle skirt with an off-white button-up t-shirt, something Frank has never seen before.

"Where did you get that?" He asks as Emily is walking back over to the bed.

"Mommy. Now, help," Emily demands, handing the outfit over to her father.

With sheer luck, Frank is able to drop off Emily at school on time and get to his morning briefing. He hasn't heard anything regarding Claire, but he figures his wife will discharge herself and head back to the residences later to rest.

Later that afternoon, Claire knocks on the door to the Oval and pokes her head in. Frank lifts his head up from his paperwork, a smile sweeping over his lips when he sees his wife.

"Hey, come in," Frank mutters, standing up while Claire is crossing the room. His hands rest on her upper arms, rubbing them slightly. "When did they let you go?"

"Just now." Frank presses a quick peck to her lips.

"How do you feel?" She frowns. Claire despises being asked that question, especially from her husband. She knows it comes from a good place, but she hates that look of slight pity in his eyes every time he asks.

"Fine. I still have a headache." Frank glances at Claire. He notices she picked a royal blue long-sleeve dress, hiding all of her injuries except for the scratches on her face. Other than the change of clothes, she still looks how she did in the hospital yesterday, just more exhausted.

"Why don't you go back to the residences and sleep? I know Emily's going to want your attention as soon as she gets home from school."

Claire glares at him, not appreciating his patronizing tone. He should know by now that speaking to her that way makes her want to do the opposite of what he says.

"No, I'm fine. We have that meeting with the Joint Chiefs that we were supposed to have yesterday." Frank shakes his head. His wife is in no condition to be meeting with anyone at the moment.

"I can handle that. You need to get some rest." Claire steps away from him, letting his hands fall away from her arms.

"No. I'm the vice president, Francis. I need to be in this meeting." If it were anybody else, her husband wouldn't care about how they feel or what they look like.

Frank's eyebrows lift at the bite in his wife's voice. He doesn't comprehend why she is so adamant about attending the meeting. Nevertheless, his assistant is already showing in members of the Joint Chiefs. He and Claire can continue their discussion after.

"Mr. President," A senior member says to Frank and shakes his head. "Mrs. Vice President, how are you feeling? We heard about the accident yesterday." Claire gives a placating smile.

"I'm fine, thank you. Shall we?" Claire would like to get this meeting over with as soon as possible. Although she won't admit it to her husband, there's nothing in this world that she would like to do more than go to sleep.

Frank and Claire sit next to each other, with the other assorted members circling around them. They immediately get down to business, discussing possible insurgency options to rescue kidnapped Aidan McCallan, a data scientist responsible for helping the Underwoods' win the election.

Not surprisingly, Frank wants to take more of an aggressive approach, projecting strength to Russian President Petrov. Claire, however, thinks there's an easier way to accomplish their task.

"We can't appear to look weak," Frank tells everyone in the meeting, but directing his comment more to Claire.

"We won't. If we treat Aidan as expendable, then Viktor might not come to the table. You know that, Francis."

"He will if we have him something better to offer. You are not thinking about this logically, Claire." The members of the Joint Chiefs remain silent, their eyes volleying from Frank to Claire. The Underwoods' are notorious for being on the same page with each other, one step ahead of everyone else. Today, they are opposite sides, each of them not giving an inch.

Claire absorbs her husband's comment. This reminds her of when he chided her in front of the Cabinet during their fight after Russia. He's using his position to punish her for not doing as he says, but she is determined to not let that happen.

"Could we suggest, sir, ma'am, opening up a dialogue with President Petrov's second in command and seeing where they are at?" A female staffer speaks up to ease the tension between husband and wife.

"No," Frank shoots it down. They've done that before to disastrous results.

"Francis, we have to do something. It might be worth back-channeling until we have a solid plan to present to Viktor." Frank glances at his wife. She was there, in the Situation Room with him, when those American soldiers were killed as a result of their back-channeling. He doesn't know why she would even entertain this course of action again.

"I will consider it. Thank you very much," Frank stands up, essentially ending the meeting. Claire is aware that her husband has no intentions of listening to the Joint Chiefs and will forge ahead with his own idea like he always does.

She waits until the Oval Office door closes to address her husband. She saunters up to his desk as he sits in his chair.

"What are you more upset about, Francis? The fact that I wouldn't agree with you, or that I attended this meeting in the first place against your wishes?"

Frank glances up, surprised by her blunt question.

"Your idea was foolish, Claire. I would've said that to anyone else in the meeting." Claire stands up straighter, her gaze falling away from his.

"My idea had merit, and if you weren't so preoccupied with me being in that meeting, you would've been more open to hearing reasoning." Frank sighs and puts his pen down, reaching for her hand.

"Listen, Claire, I love you, but you were better than what you brought to the table today." Claire lets her hand slip out of his. He's demeaning her, like he's been doing since he saw her in the hospital yesterday.

"Do you know why I accepted your proposal all those years ago, Francis?" Frank tilts his head at the unexpected subject change from his wife.

"Because I'm a man who knows how to take what he wants."

"That was part of it, but I felt like you understood me, for who I was. You know I don't like to be coddled or adored, and yet, you are doing it."

"Then stop putting me in a position where I have to, Claire." His wife is never this irrational, and her behavior just further proves his point. He thinks Claire is merely picking a fight with him because she's over-tired and emotional from the accident.

Claire walks back over to her husband, standing directly in front of his desk. She can tell he doesn't understand the crux of the argument they're having.

"I think you are just afraid to admit that you can be wrong."

They lock eyes, each wondering if they are going to be able to adapt to their ever-changing roles or if they are going to end up in the same place they were prior to Claire leaving him.

 **A/N 2: Don't worry, I'm not splitting them up again. I created this argument for a specific purpose. Next chapter, Frank and Claire examine their duties in relation to each other and figure out how to move forward while Emily gets excited for the inauguration. Thanks for reading! Please leave your thoughts with me on the way out.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: As usual, thank you so much for all the reviews I've received for this, I appreciate them so much. Not much to say here, I'm guessing there's probably one or two more chapters after this one, depending on ideas/reviews. For now, please enjoy the latest chapter.**

 **Chapter Six**

 _They lock eyes, each wondering if they are going to be able to adapt to their ever-changing roles or if they are going to end up in the same place they were prior to Claire leaving him._

Every couple has a relapsing argument throughout the duration of their relationship, whether it be about money, the distribution of responsibilities or children. For Frank and Claire, their issue has always been power—or in Claire's case, lack thereof.

"I'm going to lie down," Claire announces. The headache she's been experiencing on and off since the accident has returned in full force. Frank stares at her, wondering if he should push for a resolution to the argument they are having, or leave it alone for the time being.

"We can discuss this later," Frank assures her. Claire gives no indication she heard him and walks out of the Oval. Back in the office, Frank sighs heavily. Whatever is looming between them needs to get resolved before the inauguration. They worked so hard to convince the American people they can be married as well as president and vice president without one affecting the other, but maybe they were wrong.

Claire pulls the covers over her head and shuts her eyes, trying to focus on anything but the pounding of her head. She futilely was attempting to prove a point back in the Oval about the unwanted shift in their power dynamic. When she championed to be the vice president, she expected her husband to understand she wasn't going to take a back seat to his administration like Donald Blythe did. If she has any chance of becoming the president later on, she needs to be at the forefront, making decisions _with_ him.

An hour later, Frank is wrapping up another meeting with his Cabinet when his mind wanders to Claire. He wants her to understand she won't be treated any differently because she's his wife. When he shot her idea down in the meeting, he did it as the president. He recommended to her that she skip the meeting in favor of resting, but she ignored him, and brought an amateurish idea to the table.

"Cancel my three-o-clock," Frank tells his assistant. He abruptly stands up, walking out of the Oval and into the residences. Emily should be home from school soon, so he needs to talk to his wife now. Claire won't dare bring up anything close to resembling an argument in front of their daughter.

Frank pokes his head into Claire's bedroom, knowing she went to hers instead of his. Although they've been sharing the same bed more recently, whenever there's a tiny snag in their relationship, she runs back to her bedroom. He sees the outline of her body facing away from him but isn't sure if she's asleep.

"You can come in," Claire whispers. She doesn't attempt to turn and face him. Frank walks around the bed and sits down on the edge of it. Claire moves away, allowing him the space to sit comfortably next to her. His hand skims up her back to her cheek, coming to a stop at her shoulder.

"We can't do this to each other again, Claire," Frank whispers in a strained voice. Claire's eyes flicker up to his. She carefully sits up in bed, ignoring the stabbing sensation in her back from the movement.

"I know." They can't fall back into their previous patterns, it nearly destroyed them last time. He cautiously reaches over to grab her uninjured hand, squeezing it gently. "When you kept asking me how I felt, you had this look in your eyes. It was almost like you… _pitied_ me. I can't have you looking at me like that, Francis. It made me feel weak."

He knows better than anyone how much Claire hates the thought of someone thinking less of her. That wasn't his intention; he just wanted to look out for her well-being.

"You know that is something I would never do." He reaches to pinch her cheek, catching the curve of her miniscule smile line. She nods, not fully forgiving him yet.

"Why did you dismiss my idea so quickly in the Oval?" Claire hears the slightest sigh from him but presses on with her pursuit for an answer.

"I didn't think it was the best move for us…and I questioned your judgement." After he finishes his sentence, he's expecting her to throw him out or storm off into the bathroom. Instead, she smirks at him; that devious, calculating smirk he's grown to love from her.

"Francis, you were right, that idea was stupid. Everything we know about Viktor tells us that he would've laughed in our face if we suggested it." Frank's eyebrows knit together.

"Then why did you—"

"Because I saw the way you were looking at me." Frank understands now why Claire got so upset earlier. She felt like she was being treated as his injured wife, not the vice president. "One of the first things you told me after you were sworn in as president was 'I will not be a placeholder president, Claire'."

"I remember." That was the night they got into an argument about Claire's place in his newfound administration.

"Well, now I'm telling you, I will not be a placeholder vice president. I'm not Jim Matthews. I will not be simply going to funerals and cutting ribbons." Frank squeezes her hand briefly before letting go.

"I promise you, that will not happen. This is our time now. We _will_ put you in a position to be the next president of the United States."

He owes the large majority of his political career to Claire, and sometimes he forgets that. She wants the highest office in the land as much as he does. It's his job to make sure she gets to serve her terms as president after him.

"Thank you." She leans over and pecks the corner of his mouth.

All of the sudden, they hear a flurry of activity from outside Claire's bedroom.

"Mommy?" Emily yells out. She's used to seeing Claire working in the living room when she gets home from school or the nanny is waiting for her.

"In here, Emily," Claire yells back.

"Are you sure you want her in here?" Frank asks. His wife still hasn't gotten any sleep since she's been released from the hospital. "I can take her back to the Oval with me for a little while if you want."

Claire isn't given the chance to respond. Emily bursts through the door of the bedroom and hops onto the bed, next to her father.

"Daddy? What are you doin here?" Emily asks. She's happy to see her father home before dinner, a rare occurrence in her household.

"I wanted to make sure Mommy was sleeping." Frank doesn't dare tell Emily he came in his wife's bedroom to settle a disagreement between them. Emily looks over at Claire and frowns.

"She's not, Daddy. You not doin' a good job. Mommy, go to sleep. Daddy and me have pwesidental things to do."

Frank and Claire laugh at their daughter's blunt attitude. Emily climbs off the bed and turns around to see if her father is following her. The toddler half turns, frowning when she sees Frank still sitting next to her mother. Emily walks back over to her dad, choosing to stand next to him instead.

"Speaking of _presidential_ things to do, the inauguration is a few days away," Frank reminds his daughter.

"What's that?" Emily asks Frank. She knows her father became president again, but not the logistics behind it.

"It's a party to celebrate your dad's presidency and my vice presidency. We have to get sworn in and then we will have a party at the White House," Claire explains. Emily claps her hands with glee.

"I come too and wear my dwess. I need to go," Emily scurries away and Frank and Claire hear her bedroom door slam shut moments later.

"Something tells me she is planning her inauguration speech already," Frank quips to Claire.

"She is the vice vice president after all."

Claire swings her legs out of bed, turning her back to her husband. Before she went to lie down, Claire changed into an ivory silk nightie that exposes most of her back. Frank cringes when the light catches her skin, illuminating the violent bruises caused by the seat belt.

"Don't stare, Francis," Claire reminds him, turning her head to look behind her. She slides a matching robe over her shoulders and disappears into the bathroom.

"I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of the President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States," Frank says with one hand on the Bible. He shakes hands with the justice swearing him in and turns to Claire. They briefly kiss on the cheek while Emily cheers beside her. Frank picks up Emily and wraps his arm around Claire, posing for a few photographs.

He's imagined this day for years. It feels different this time, more authentic than before. The first time it was done so quickly due to Walker's immediate resignation. They didn't have an official inauguration celebration. It was merely business as usual.

Frank sets Emily down and steps forward to the podium, ready to deliver his inauguration speech. Claire holds Emily, watching the toddler watch her father. She can see the ambition and respect in Emily's cerulean eyes. Their daughter is observing closely and taking mental notes, even at such a young age.

After the speech, Claire, Frank and Emily are shepherded into a limo waiting to take them back to the White House. Emily is happily playing on her iPad while Frank is on a call with Mark Usher, a new frenemy they are trying to bring into the fold. Frank wraps up the call and turns to Claire, who is looking out the window.

"What are you thinking?" Frank asks her.

"Let mortal tongues awake, let all that breathe partake," Claire croons. Frank smiles, knowing her underlying meaning. "let rocks their silent break." She turns to him, grabbing his awaiting hand in her cream-colored glove. "I have a soft spot for that patriotic stuff."

Frank holds onto her hand and focuses his attention to Emily.

"Em, what do you think of the inauguration so far?" Emily shuts off her iPad, setting it aside so she can talk to her father.

"I like it, Daddy." Frank notices sometimes that Emily is a lot like Claire with her emotions. The toddler will get excited about something, but it's brief. It tapers off quickly, and then she will become more reserved. Even when Emily was younger, she was never an overly emotional child.

"Good. This will be for you someday, Em." Frank speaks with confidence, knowing his daughter will follow in their political footsteps.

"I know." Emily says it matter-of-factly and breaks into a smirk akin to her mother's. Claire squeezes her husband's hand and lets it go.

"Go change into your dress, Emily. Let me know if you need help," Claire tells their daughter when they get back to the residences. People are already arriving downstairs from the Capitol. The Underwoods' are the guests of honor, but they can't keep everyone waiting for too long.

Emily nods and goes into her room, determined to change on her own, without assistance from her parents. Frank and Claire stop in the middle of the hallway. This is the first time they've been able to be alone since the night before.

"I had a tuxedo laid out for you in your room," Claire says, gliding her head down his wool jacket.

"Are you going to wear the dress they picked out for you?" Frank asks out of curiosity. Prior to the accident, Claire had a custom designer gown made for her. However, with the bruises on her shoulder, he's wondering if she changed her mind.

"No. I don't want anything to be a distraction. I had a back-up brought in just in case."

Frank and Claire separate, each going into their separate rooms to change for the event. Emily comes out first, wearing a navy cap-sleeved dress with buttons on the top undone. Frank sees his daughter walking around the living room with her chest exposed and laughs to himself. Thankfully, nobody is in the residences except the three of them.

"Em, come here," Frank says, momentarily pausing from assembling his own outfit. He gingerly bends down and buttons each button for his daughter. "You look beautiful. Let Mom help you with your hair when she's done." He pinches Emily's cheek and carefully gets to his feet.

Emily grabs her iPad and sits on the couch while waiting for her parents to be ready to leave. Claire comes out, wearing an egg-shell colored suit jacket hanging slightly off her shoulders and a matching skirt. Her longer hair is pulled back with several bobby pins.

"Mommy, you look pwetty!" Emily exclaims from the couch. The toddler runs over to her mother and points to her unruly brunette hair. Claire quickly French-braids Emily's hair just as Frank is coming out fully dressed.

Claire starts fussing over Frank's bowtie, straightening it like she always does.

"Stamper tells me we have a bead on McCallan's location in about an hour or so," Frank quietly tells her.

"I just spoke to Jane Davis. Her contacts are ready and waiting."

Frank and Claire decided to bypass the Joint Chief's and Petrov all together, favoring using Jane Davis, a colleague of Mark's, instead to get the job done. Frank isn't completely sold on the idea, but he trusts Claire because she trusts using Jane is the best solution.

They start walking towards the elevator with Emily trailing close behind. Claire turns her head, admiring how her husband looks in a tuxedo.

"You look very beautiful. Presidential." He stops, causing her to stop and face him.

" _You_ look beautiful. Vice Presidential." She smiles and walks forward. Frank holds his hand out for Emily, watching her excitedly grasp it.

Frank and Claire spend most of the night schmoozing with various members of Cabinet members, donors and other assorted congressmen and women. They are hoping everyone is too distracted by the party to keep tabs on the Aiden McCallan situation.

"Where's Emily?" Frank asks Claire. It's been almost an hour since he's seen his little girl.

"Tom is keeping her busy," Claire says, pointing over to where Tom has Emily hanging upside down by her ankles. Frank isn't too keen on Emily being around Tom, or Tom being around Claire, but this is not the night to discuss it. He would rather the journalist keep his distance like before. Tom can release his unauthorized book about the Underwoods' at any time. It would be less detrimental now that the Underwoods' won the election, but it bothers Frank that Tom still has this dirt on them.

"I'm going to get some air," Frank tells Claire. It's nearing the end of the night, and people are starting to leave the party.

"Okay, I have to speak to Cathy about something." Claire brushes a kiss to Frank's cheek. "Francis don't be too long. There's some people you should say goodbye to."

Frank waves to people as he disappears down a hallway to a place he frequents when he needs to be alone. Meechum was with him here one time, when they were goofing off during a late night. Frank traced Meechum's hand with a permanent marker, but it's been painted over since then. Now, a painting covers the empty wall where the outline of the Secret Service agent's hand used to be.

"Tom, I go find my daddy," Emily states to Tom.

"Okay, let's go find him." Tom knows Claire wouldn't want Emily wandering around the White House by herself. He tasked himself with looking after the toddler for most of the night. Emily grabs Tom's hand and walks him down the hallway she saw her father go down a while ago.

"Hi Daddy!" Emily exclaims. Frank is sitting in a chair, staring at the painting. He glances over, seeing Emily release Tom's hand and hop into the other chair across from him.

"Thanks, Tom. If you see Claire, tell her I'm looking for her." Tom nods and leaves the two of them alone.

Meanwhile, Claire is walking around the ballroom, trying to locate Tom and Emily. She saw them briefly before she got involved in another conversation with a member of Cathy Durant's staff. She sees Doug and asks where her husband is.

"You see Francis, tell him I'm looking for him," Claire tells Doug. She walks down a hallway near the elevator. Frank is sitting in a chair, with Emily across from him.

"Hi Mommy, Daddy and I are hiding," Emily informs her mother.

"I see that," Claire says to the little girl. It's way past Emily's bedtime, but they allowed her to stay up as long as she behaved at the inauguration. "I thought you got lost."

"No. I just needed a break. Emily found me and we decided to talk for a little bit." It's rare that he and Emily have time alone. Frank wants to enjoy it while he can.

"Should we bid our guests farewell?"

"No. The night is young. Right, Em?" Emily nods, although her drooping eyes tell a different story.

"Look what I found," Claire says, holding out the "F" cufflink that Meechum gave her husband one year for his birthday. Frank sighs and holds out his sleeve, watching his wife put it on for him. Claire gestures for Emily to sit on her lap so she can sit on the chair across from Frank.

Frank smiles sadly while looking at the cufflink, remembering the man who gave it to him. How shy he was, how loyal. He made the ultimate sacrifice when Frank got shot.

"I miss him," Frank whispers, not realizing he said it out loud.

"I know. I still think of him sometimes," Claire mumbles.

"I miss Meechy a lot. He not here to play wif me anymore," Emily says. Claire instinctively tightens her hold on Emily, bringing her arms around her daughter's petite frame.

Frank sees the bracelet encircling Claire's wrist and remembers why he wanted to find her. He reaches into his blazer and pulls out a maroon, velvet box, handing it over to his wife.

"What's this?" Claire asks.

"Open it," Frank tells her. Claire opens the box to reveal a diamond necklace that matches the bracelet she's wearing.

"It's beautiful." Claire takes it out of the box and clasps it around her neck.

"I've had the necklace for a while. I wanted to give it to you on a special occasion—"

"Like when you gave me the bracelet."

 _Claire is utterly exhausted. She's just given birth after being up for almost thirty hours. Frank went back to his office to wrap up a few things. They are both taking a couple days off to get accustomed to being home with Emily._

 _She didn't know she fell asleep until she hears someone rustling around in her hospital room. Claire wakes up with a start, surprised to see her husband setting down his blazer._

" _Hey," he whispers quietly. Claire rubs her tired eyes and lifts her head up to make sure the baby is still sleeping soundly in the basinet next to her bed._

" _Hi, I didn't hear you come in." Frank leans down and presses a kiss to Claire's lips. He peeks over at Emily, grinning at the tiny noises their daughter is making in her sleep._

" _I was trying to be quiet in case you wanted to sleep more." Frank sits down in the chair he was occupying during most of her labor. "How are you doing?"_

" _Sore. Tired. Did you and Doug get the votes?" Frank nods, crossing one leg over the other._

" _We should be good, even if a few Republicans decide to go back on their word." Claire nods. Frank suddenly dives into his pocket, searching for the box he picked up from the townhouse._

" _Here, I got you something." Claire accepts the box from her husband._

" _We don't get each other presents." She can't remember the last time they exchanged gifts._

" _This is special. Just open it." Claire gasps at the intricate diamond bracelet tucked inside the box. "Francis, it's beautiful." He reaches over to secure the bracelet onto her thin wrist. Claire takes a second to admire it, smiling at the way it clashes with her hospital gown._

" _You didn't have the easiest pregnancy, and I wasn't always there, but you did it. We have Emily now." Claire grabs his hand, gliding her thumb over his knuckles. She lets go when Emily starts crying._

" _Can you get her?" Claire asks Frank. She hasn't seen him hold Emily except for when he was handing their daughter to her moments after she was born. He hasn't fully become comfortable with being a father quite yet._

 _Frank carefully extracts Emily from the basinet, holding her like she's going to combust in his arms. Claire bites back a grin and wishes she could reach her phone to take a picture._

" _Huh," Frank says, tilting his head._

" _What?"_

" _She has my nose."_

"Thank you," Claire reaches over, touching her fingers to his. She appreciates the gesture.

"Shall we go enjoy the rest of the party?" Frank asks Claire and Emily. The toddler yawns while nodding. Claire picks Emily and stands up, walking closer to Frank. She stamps a kiss to his cheek. Claire sets Emily down and loops her arm with her husband's.

"I should put Emily to bed. I'll be down after," Claire tells him when they reach the ballroom.

"I'll meet you for a cigarette in the Oval." Emily hugs Frank's legs and languidly follows her mother back to the residences.

Claire picks Emily up halfway up the stairs to the residences. The toddler rests her head on her mother's shoulder, letting sleep overtake her. Claire gently sets Emily down in her bed and walks across to her own room, changing out of her gown. She unclips her hair and changes into her pajamas.

Frank lingers and half-listens while a congressmen from his home state rambles on about farming legislation she wants passed.

"Yes, I'm sure we can work together on this, have your office call mine and we will set up a meeting," Frank tells her and shakes her hand. It's nearing one-o-clock in the morning, and he is exhausted. He gives a clipped nod to Doug, letting him know he's retiring for the night.

Claire's phone buzzes beside her on the living room couch. She wanted to get some work done while waiting for Frank's signal to meet him in the Oval. Claire quietly slips out of the residences, doing a quick check on Emily before leaving.

When she arrives at the Oval, Frank already lit the cigarette, letting it burn in his hand without pressing it to his lips. Claire hops on his desk, taking her usual spot on the corner.

"Any news?" Claire asks him regarding the McCallan situation.

"No. I'm hoping for a full briefing in the morning." Frank hands the cigarette over to Claire, smiling when he notices she didn't take the necklace he got her off. Claire takes a puff, letting the smoke blow out of her mouth. "I was going to give you that necklace sooner."

Claire hands the cigarette back to him, letting him inhale before asking for an explanation.

"When? I hope you weren't waiting for another child." Frank laughs as he shakes his head.

"No. When I became president the first time. I wanted to give it to you then, but it didn't seem right." Things quickly soured between Frank and Claire when he became president after Walker. It was like they couldn't quite figure out the new dynamic between each other, and it tore them apart. "And then, I lost it. I found it when you were in Dallas with Emily. Obviously, I couldn't give it to you then."

Claire comprehends why he waited. He didn't want it to seem like he was bribing her to come back to him. If they were to patch things up, he wanted to be because she wanted to, and not for any other reason.

"It's better this way." Claire hands the cigarette back to her husband and watches him take a final puff before letting it fall into the cup of water doubling as an ashtray. "I'm turning in, wake me if something happens with McCallan." She pats his hand and gets off the desk.

A week later, Claire returns to the residences after a morning marathon of meetings. Emily had the day off from school today, and the nanny had an emergency. Claire and Frank are tag-teaming, with him working from his study for the morning and her taking Emily out in the afternoon.

Her daughter's toys are strewn about in the living room, something that only happens when Frank is watching her. Claire rolls her eyes and makes a mental note to remind Emily to clean up after they get back from their outing.

Claire sits down at the kitchen table and fires up her laptop, hoping she can send out a quick email before Emily wants her attention. Her ears perk up at a strange noise coming from her husband's study.

"Goddamnit Emily!" Claire hears Frank yell and then what appears to be the sound of something breaking from inside the study. She shuts down her laptop and walks towards the study. All of the sudden, she sees Emily running towards her, sobbing into her hands.

"Emily wh—" Claire's voice trails off when Frank comes out of the study, looking extremely remorseful.

"Em—" He says, taking a step towards where their daughter is standing next to Claire. Emily shakes her head and hides behind Claire, sobbing into her mother's black skirt.

"What did you do?" Claire asks Frank.

 **A/N 2: Uh oh! I thought it would be interesting—since Emily's such a Daddy's girl—to see a shake-up in her relationship with Frank. You guys will determine how many chapters are left. Please leave your thoughts and ideas with me on the way out. Thanks for reading!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: You guys are incredible, thank you for leaving me some reviews! I don't have anything to add here, just that I hope everyone is enjoying this story and wants to read more. Please enjoy the latest installment of** _ **The Aftermath.**_

 **Chapter Seven**

" _Goddamnit Emily!" Claire hears Frank yell and then what appears to be the sound of something breaking from inside his study. She shuts down her laptop and walks towards the study. All of the sudden, she sees Emily running towards her, sobbing into her hands._

" _Emily wh—" Claire's voice trails off when Frank comes out of the study, looking extremely remorseful._

" _Em—" He says, taking a step towards where their daughter is standing next to Claire. Emily shakes her head and hides behind Claire, sobbing into her mother's black skirt._

" _What did you do?" Claire asks Frank._

Frank is quiet for a moment. He feels awful for losing his temper with his daughter, something he's been trying to avoid since she was born. Emily's been around when he's yelled, but he's never directed it _at_ her prior to today.

Claire is staring at him, waiting for an answer. She can feel her daughter trembling behind her. The toddler's arms are wrapped around her legs as her entire body quivers.

Frank's shoulders slump. Nothing he says to Claire excuses his behavior. He regrets letting his daughter even come into the study.

"Come here," Claire says to Emily, picking up the crying toddler. "It's okay." She hasn't seen the toddler this upset since she lost her bunny at the subway station. Claire motions for Frank to step closer to Emily.

"No, Daddy! Go away!" Emily shouts, holding her hand out to push Frank away. Claire glances at her husband. She's never seen a more devastating expression on his face. He looks like he's about to shatter into a million pieces.

"Emily, go get ready to leave. I want to talk to Daddy for a second." Claire thinks it's best to separate them for the time being. Emily clearly doesn't want to be around her father at the moment, and Claire won't force her.

Emily is set on the ground and she runs to her room, grabbing her bunny and holding it to her chest. Claire waits until the toddler closes the door to her room to address her husband.

"What happened Francis?" She's warned him time and time again to check his temper in front of Emily. Claire's used to it by now, but the toddler isn't. Something like this was bound to happen.

"I kept telling her to stop playing with my phone and she hung up on the conference call I was in the middle of." Claire blinks, she expected him to say Emily bit him or broke his computer. She didn't expect him to blow up at their daughter over a phone call.

"Did…you hit her?" She hates herself for even thinking to ask him that question, but he was violent with her during their fight in the Oval. Frank scoffs, looking truly hurt.

"I'm not even going to answer that question." Claire gives him a clipped nod, silently admitting she went too far.

"Emily and I have that event to go to. You can talk to her when we get back." Claire promised Emily she could come with her to a charity event today, and now seems like a perfect time to leave the White House for a few hours without Frank.

"Emily!" Claire calls out, watching her daughter slowly step out of her room. The toddler's eyes are trained on her father the entire time. She stands behind her mother instead of going to give her father a hug goodbye like she usually does. Claire won't make Emily approach Frank. She notices how frightened their daughter is of her father.

"Bye Em," Frank says to Emily. Emily merely stares at him as Claire grabs onto her hand.

"I think it would be best if you went back to the Oval." Claire whispers to her husband. Frank sighs and leaves the residence as his wife requests.

Claire waits until her and Emily are in the car to ask her daughter her interpretation of what transpired in Frank's study.

"What happened between you and Daddy today, Emily?" Emily looks down at her lap instead of making eye contact with Claire.

"Daddy and me are in his office and I was pwaying wif the phone. I pfink he mad 'cause I hanged up on someone." Claire nods. Her daughter's story seems to jive with her husband's.

"It's not nice to touch other people's things, Emily."

"Daddy say I can, Mommy. He lets me pway wif his stuff when he's workin'." Claire is at a loss on if she should punish Emily. Technically, she didn't do anything wrong. It was Frank's morning to watch Emily, and he chose to bring her into the study while he was working. If anything, it's Frank that should be apologizing to their daughter. "Am I in twoble, Mommy?"

"No, Emily. You just have to be more careful when you are playing in Daddy's office." Emily nods and goes back to looking outside. After talking with Emily, Claire is even more irritated with Frank. He shouldn't have yelled at Emily over something so insignificant.

"Wow!" Emily exclaims as the car pulls up to the National Mall. There's a massive bouncy house and a ball pit set up for the children who are attending.

It's a charity event designed for moms and their kids in the Washington, D.C. area. After Claire's speech following the subway incident, the organization invited her to be the keynote speaker at their kick-off celebration. At first, Claire was reluctant because she doesn't want the American people to see her as just a mom. Frank convinced her it would be beneficial for her public profile to attend events that center on children. Even with having Emily, the Underwoods' poll lowest when it comes to issues surrounding families.

"Look at that, Emily," Claire points to a petting zoo set up at the far end of the Mall. Emily claps her hands with excitement.

"Can I go Mommy?" Emily asks, her cerulean eyes wide with anticipation. Claire nods and motions for an agent to follow her daughter around while she chats with constituents.

After some glad-handing on Claire's behalf, she takes the stage. Emily is sitting in the audience with a group of toddlers, surrounded by Secret Service agents.

"Thank you for having Emily and I at your lovely event. I have a feeling I'm going to have to bribe my daughter with some candy to leave today," Claire begins. She hears some polite laughter from the crowd and continues. "When I was pregnant—and after I had Emily—I didn't feel as if I had a strong network of women behind me that supported me as I tried to navigate motherhood. And now, today, I feel as if I've made connections that will resonate. Family is at the center of everything Francis and I are trying to accomplish as president and vice president. We appreciate local organizations like ChildrenFirst doing their best to support moms here in Washington and across the country. You have the full support of our administration behind you. Thank you."

Claire moves to the side as a roar of applause follows her. She poses from some photographs with executive members of the organization. An aide whispers in her ear that it's time for Claire to have a quick meet-and-greet with a select group of people.

Claire motions for Emily and the agent in charge of her daughter to follow her over to a seating area. The media is already waiting although Claire said she wasn't doing any press for this event.

"Last one," the aide mumbles to Claire behind a piece of paper. She isn't as excited to mingle with the public as her husband is. Frank would be here all-day chatting people up if he could.

"One more," Claire whispers to Emily. The toddler has been coloring off to the side while Claire carries out her duties.

A petite blonde woman approaches with a baby girl not more than a few months old. Claire is immediately reminded of Emily at that age, especially since the baby looks identical to her daughter. She has the same dark hair and blue eyes that Emily has.

"Do you want to hold her?" The woman asks Claire. Honestly, Claire would rather not. Besides Emily, Claire is not a kid person. She can't say no, it wouldn't play well in the press.

"Sure." The woman places the baby in Claire's arms. The baby coos softly and reaches for Claire's finger. Emily glances over, seeing her mother holding a baby. The toddler drops her crayon and moves closer to Claire.

"Woah, she's tiny, Mommy," Emily says, much to the amusement of the reporters. _The press is eating this up_. _Thank you, Emily._ Claire thinks to herself.

"She looks like you when you were this small," Claire says. As long as the camera is on her, Claire will play her part no matter how much she wants to give the baby back.

"I want one," Emily declares. The camera flashes intensify, and Claire has to remind herself not to cringe. Despite many attempts to hand this baby back to her mother, Claire is stuck holding her.

"I think you are a little young, Emily." Claire can tell what Emily's going to say next by the look on her daughter's face. It's the same look Frank has when he has an idea; a slight smile complete with a biting of the lip.

"No Mommy, I want a baby sister!" Claire won't shut her daughter down on national television, especially after all the good press they've obtained by attending this event.

"So, what do you think Mrs. Vice President? Can we expect another little Underwood soon?" A reporter shouts from the crowd. Claire wants to evaporate into thin air. She makes a mental note never to attend a family-focused event again.

"Oh, I don't know. She really is cute," Claire hears herself saying and then immediately regrets it as glee spreads across Emily's face. Thankfully, the baby starts crying, giving Claire the perfect excuse to hand her back to her mother.

"Emily, we need to go," Claire mutters quietly to her daughter. Emily nods and grabs her coloring book. She holds onto Claire's hand until they get back to the car.

"Mommy! Dat baby is so cute!" Emily exclaims. Claire is glad her daughter seems happier than she was when they left the residences. She was worried Emily would get jealous of Claire holding the baby, but her daughter seemed enamored by it.

"Yes, she was."

"And when you and Daddy have anoder baby, she'll be cute too!" Claire inhales a breath. She has to squash this baby thing before it gets out of hand.

"Honey, Daddy and I are not having another baby." Claire remembers having this conversation with Emily when she was two, but her daughter didn't comprehend or remember it.

"Why not?" Emily juts her lip out in a pout. "I really want one, Mommy." Claire picks up on the whiny undertone of her daughter's voice and treads carefully to avoid a tantrum.

"We are too old. We only wanted one, and we got you. That's enough for us." Truthfully, Claire and Frank didn't want any kids, but she won't tell Emily that.

Emily crosses her arms over her chest, not satisfied with her mother's answer.

"But Mommy—"

Claire realizes she has to switch tactics in order to convince her daughter having another child is not in her best interest.

"Do you remember when the Conways' had to come stay with us for a little bit during the election?" Emily nods. "And you didn't want to share your room, or your toys, or even Daddy and me with their children. That's how it would be if we had another baby, except it would be staying with us instead of going back home."

Emily pauses to consider what her mother is telling her about what would happen if she had a sibling. She isn't too keen on sharing her things or her parents with someone else.

After Claire drops Emily off at the residence with the nanny, she heads to the Oval to speak to her husband. She bypasses Doug and Seth on the way into the office as they are heading out.

"Hey," Claire says and sits down in the chair across from Frank. He's reading something on the computer, his eyebrows raising with each passing word. "Is something wrong?"

Frank takes off his glasses as his eyes slide over to Claire, scrutinizing her every move.

"Is there anything you would like to tell me?" He asks, his tone dancing a fine line between anger and amusement. Claire furrows her eyebrows while shaking her head.

"No. Francis, what's going on?" Frank waves his finger at her, causing her to stand up and move around so she's hovering over him, perusing what he was just looking at on the monitor.

"Is another Underwood joining the administration?" Claire reads the headline out loud. She sighs but plays the video associated with the article.

"After Vice President Underwood attended an event in D.C. with her daughter earlier today, there is speculation surrounding whether Mrs. Underwood is expecting her second child," a male anchor says into the camera. "When asked by a reporter if she was considering having another baby, the Vice President gave a rather ambiguous response. In addition, a source close to the Underwoods' said the vice president's inauguration dress was changed at the last minute at Mrs. Underwoods request. We reached out for comment but have not heard back."

The video cuts out and Frank turns to his wife, waiting for an answer. Claire notices Frank staring at her stomach and decides to have a little fun. She sits down on the edge of his chair and places her hand on her abdomen.

"Well, Francis I've been waiting for the right moment to tell you—" Claire can't keep it together after seeing the sheer terror on her husband's face. She laughs into her hand as Frank glares at her. She goes back to sit down in the chair she was sitting in when she first stepped into his office.

"What brought this on?" Frank asks, referring to the article.

"I did a meet and greet at the event and Emily saw me holding a baby. She immediately wanted another sibling and I didn't want to disappoint her in front of the reporters. I shouldn't've played into them. It was a silly thing to do."

All of the sudden, Frank makes the same face Emily made a few hours earlier. She can see the gears turning in his head.

"This could work to our advantage."

"How so?"

"Paid maternity leave." Frank pauses for a moment, trying to assemble his thoughts. "Think about it. If you could get something passed on maternity leave as the first female vice president, you would be almost guaranteed the presidency next term."

Claire likes the idea, but it won't be nearly as easy as her husband is making it sound.

"I don't know Francis. It would be a tough sell, especially for the Republicans." Frank nods in agreement. There are people on both sides of the aisle just waiting to shoot down anything the Underwoods' suggest.

"I know, but if we can create legislation that satisfies enough people from both parties, it might be worth a try."

"Who owes us?" Frank leans back in his chair, pausing for a moment to think.

"Secretary Hughes. We can work him like we did when he was a congressman."

" _Jack, it's good to see you. Come in and sit down," Frank says while shaking the younger congressman's hand._

" _Thank you, Frank," Jack sits down opposite Frank on the couches in his office._

" _Now, I know you have some reservations on this bill, and I wanted to meet with you personally to see what we can do." Frank is attempting to get a massive environmental bill pushed through Congress but is facing opposition from conservative Republicans like Jack._

" _Yes well—" Jack trails off when the men hear knocking on Frank's office door._

" _I'm sorry, I thought I told my secretary I didn't want to be disturbed," Frank says. He goes to his office door, and opens it, smirking when he sees Claire on the other end. "Hi." He opens the door wider to let his wife inside his office._

" _Hi, you forgot your lunch at home," Claire says, holding a paper bag. Frank tries his hardest not to laugh. He doesn't think they've ever brought each other lunch in their marriage. "Oh, I didn't realize you were meeting with someone. Hello." She reaches across her husband to shake Jack's hand._

" _Mrs. Underwood, congratulations on your impending arrival. Not long I see?" Jack says, eyeing Claire's swollen abdomen. Claire puts a hand on her stomach as she slowly sits down next to Frank on the couch._

" _Less than a month I think."_

" _I hope you don't mind that I asked my wife to attend this meeting for her environmental expertise."_

" _Of course, I just thought Mrs. Underwood would be on maternity leave by now," Jack says to Frank instead of addressing Claire directly. Frank doesn't know if Jack repeatedly mentioning Claire's pregnancy is a bad or good thing for them yet. Claire glances at Frank, wondering the same thing. She rests her hand over her stomach, rubbing it._

" _I've cut back my hours significantly, but I still do what I can. Aren't you and your wife expecting another baby?"_

" _Yes, our third. A girl."_

" _We are having a girl as well. So, what issues do you have about this bill?" Claire asks, bringing the conversation back to politics._

" _I don't see how this will get traction. Besides the few Democrats and Republicans that support it, nobody else even knows about it. I don't know any business that will work us to ensure they are meeting the necessary standards outlined in this bill."_

" _Well, what if my company, the CWI, co-sponsors it? We could work with your team and others to re-work certain aspects of the bill and bring it to the forefront of the conversation."_

 _Jack pauses to consider it while Frank looks at his wife in awe. Bringing her into the fold was an amazing idea._

" _Well, with all due respect Mrs. Underwood, you are about to give birth." Claire tilts her head in confusion. "I would rather work with you instead of your replacement."_

" _Francis and I are only taking a few days off when our daughter arrives. I'm not stepping down from my company in any way."_

" _Okay, I think we can work together. I'll have my office reach out to yours. Frank, thank you," Jack and Frank stand up to shake hands._

" _Excuse me if I don't get up. I don't think I can," Claire says from the couch. Jack leans over and shakes Claire's hand. Frank shows him out while Claire grabs an apple inside of the bag she brought from her office. "I felt like that was too easy. Are we sure he's going to keep his word?"_

 _Frank shrugs and takes the apple from Claire, biting into it._

" _I don't know, he seemed to like you. I think you being pregnant helped." Claire nods in agreement._

" _He kept staring at my stomach. I wanted to say something but figured we could make it work to our advantage." Frank reaches over and sweeps his hand over her stomach, feeling their daughter move underneath his palm._

"Do you think he will be willing to work with us again? We might have to owe him." Frank scoffs,

"We made him Secretary of Energy; he owes _us_ for life."

"Alright, I'll get with my team and see if we can get something drafted to start disseminating."

"How's Em? Do you think she's ready to talk?"

Frank keeps replaying the moment his daughter pushed him away in the residence over and over in his head. He wants to work things out with Emily as soon as possible.

"I think so, but Francis, she's sensitive. You have to be careful on how you speak to her." Frank nods and watches his wife leave his office.

A few hours later, Frank makes it back to the residence. Emily is playing with her toys in the living room while Claire is skimming through a briefing. Frank brushes a kiss to Claire's cheek and she quietly gestures to their daughter.

"Hi Em," Frank says, wanting to test the waters first. Emily looks over her shoulder, making eye contact with her father.

"Hi Daddy," Emily whispers and goes back to playing with her toys. Frank glances at his wife, wondering if Emily ready to have this conversation or if he should just back off for a little while longer. Claire shrugs and motions for Frank to continue.

Frank moves to sit on the ottoman Emily is using as a launching pad for her Wonder Woman doll.

"You're still pretty mad at me, huh?" Frank asks. Emily nods stiffly, focusing heavily on trying to make her doll fly instead of looking at her father. "I never should've yelled at you like that. I didn't mean to scare you."

Emily meets his eyes, looking at him for a little longer this time.

"Do you still wanna pway wif me, Daddy?" Claire glances at her husband, who looks absolutely heartbroken.

"Of course, Em. You are still my vice _vice_ president." Emily grins at her father and approaches him for the first time since the incident in his study earlier. He gives her a quick hug. He's thrilled they can put what happened today behind them.

"Daddy?" Emily's eyes widen, a pure cherubic expression taking over her face.

"What Em?" Frank can tell his daughter is about to ask him for something she wants.

"Was I a good baby?" Emily's question comes complete with a batting of the eyelashes. Frank looks at Claire from over his shoulder and shakes his head. Their daughter knows she has better luck getting what she wants from Frank instead of Claire.

"Yes, you were—"

"Except for the time you pooped all over your father before his speech," Claire adds in.

" _Francis, can you take her for a minute?" Claire asks, handing a nine-month-old Emily over to her husband. Frank accepts the hand-off and bounces his daughter in his arms. Emily coos and starts grabbing her father's face. "I'll be right back."_

 _Frank watches Claire leave the table and disappear around the corner. He pretends to eat Emily's finger as she tries to shove them into his mouth. They weren't even supposed to bring Emily to this event tonight, but their nanny had a last-minute emergency. Now, Frank is left chatting up potential donors with a baby on his hip._

" _Come on, let's go get your father some votes," Frank mumbles to Emily and heads over to some known contributors to his campaign. While Frank is talking, he notices a pungent odor building. He sniffs Emily to confirm that she pooped. "Excuse me, I have to change her."_

 _Frank quickly walks into the nearest men's bathroom he can find, holding Emily at an arm's length. Unfortunately for him, it's too late. His daughter pooped all over herself and some managed to get on his shirt._

" _Damn it," Frank whispers and sets Emily down on the makeshift changing table so he can text Claire. He stands back and removes his daughter's diaper, almost puking at the smell._

 _Claire receives a text from her husband requesting her presence in the bathroom. She furrows her eyebrows and then remembers she left him with Emily. Claire goes back to their table and grabs the diaper bag Frank inevitably left behind._

" _Hey, I got your…oh no!" Claire laughs when she sees Frank's shirt stained with their daughter's poop._

" _I told you we never should've had children," Frank grumbles. Claire rubs his shoulder and starts digging through the diaper bag for what she's looking for while Frank starts changing Emily's diaper._

" _I brought an extra change of clothes for both of us in case of instances like this. Here," Claire hands him a clean white dress shirt for him to change into. "Switch places with me, you need to get out there for your speech."_

" _I love you," Frank says and grabs his shirt from her, closing the stall door behind him._

"I think I know where you are going with this Em, and you are not getting another sibling." A frown curls on Emily's lips. She didn't expect to be shot down right away.

"Pwease Daddy?" Emily asks in the most innocent voice she can muster. Claire hides her smile behind her hand. Their daughter is definitely their child. Emily waited until she knew Frank would be in a giving mood to ask for something she wanted.

"No, sweetheart. It's not safe for your mom to have another baby. And I don't want to share the Oval Office with anyone but you." There's nothing Frank wants less than a second child. He loves Emily dearly, but he and Claire agree they are satisfied with just having their daughter.

"And Mommy!" Emily exclaims, pointing to Claire. Frank reaches behind him to put a hand on Claire's knee.

"And your mother, of course. Come on, go get ready for bed. I'll read you your book tonight." Emily nods and runs into her room, eager to get into her pajamas so her dad can read to her before she goes to sleep.

"We have got to get her off this sibling thing," Claire tells Frank.

"I agree. Maybe we can get her a doll or something."

"Daddy! Come on!" Emily yells from her room.

"That's my cue." Frank slowly gets to his feet and pinches Claire's cheek before heading into Emily's bedroom.

Two days later, Frank and Claire are having a meeting to discuss moving forward with their paid maternity leave legislation.

"Who do you think will support us?" Claire asks. There's nobody better at obtaining votes in Congress than her husband. She just wishes they had his old voting board from his other office.

"Definitely the women's caucus. We could probably squeeze a few votes from—" Frank is interrupted by Secret Service bursting into the Oval. "What is it?"

"Sir, we thought you should see this right away." One of the agents hands Frank a folded piece of paper. Frank opens it and his face goes ashen. From the other side of the desk, Claire leans over, trying to see what made her husband's facial expression drastically change.

"Oh my God," Frank whispers, staring at the paper.

"Francis?" Claire asks, but gets no response. She walks around his desk, gliding her hand down his back. "Francis, what is it?" Frank hands her the newspaper clipping with a trembling hand.

Someone cut out a newspaper clipping from the inauguration. On it, is an article analyzing Frank's presidential address and a family photo; Claire is standing next to Frank, who is holding Emily. Emily's face is x'd out with a red marker; below it, are the words "kill her."

 **A/N 2: I hope you liked this (kind of) lighter chapter and want more! What happens to Emily? Please leave your thoughts on the way out and thank you for reading.**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: First off, thank you so much for all the lovely reviews, they make my day. We are nearing the end of this series, and I really appreciate all the support through these fics. (If you haven't read** _ **The Interview**_ **or** _ **The Fallout,**_ **now's your chance!) I hope you enjoy the latest chapter!**

 **Chapter Eight**

" _Francis?" Claire asks, but gets no response. She walks around his desk, gliding her hand down his back. "Francis, what is it?" Frank hands her the newspaper clipping with a trembling hand._

 _Someone cut out a newspaper clipping from the inauguration. On it, is an article analyzing Frank's presidential address and a family photo; Claire is standing next to Frank, who is holding Emily. Emily's face is x'd out with a red marker; below it, are the words "kill her."_

"W…who…sent this?" Claire asks barely above a whisper. Her and Frank have gotten numerous threats throughout their career, more so as they've risen through the ranks. However, they've never seen anything this deliberate targeting only their daughter. And the fact that Emily isn't there with them is unsettling.

"We don't know ma'am. It came in an unmarked envelope. We are doing tests on it now to see if we can lift any prints. Rest assured, we are taking this matter incredibly serious." Claire stiffly nods. Frank hasn't said anything, he's too preoccupied with staring at the photo of his little girl.

Claire sets the clipping on Frank's desk, causing him to turn around so he's no longer looking at it. The agent is idling nervously on the other side of Frank's desk, waiting to be dismissed.

"Where is she?" Frank asks, his back still to Claire and the agent. His hand balls itself into a fist. He will tear down Washington looking for his daughter if need be.

"I need a location on Tiny Eagle. Repeat, I need a location on Tiny Eagle," The agent says into the microphone on his sleeve. Claire and Frank glance at each other, wondering why they've never heard their daughter's code name before.

"Your daughter insisted we change it when she heard us calling the president Eagle," The agent explains. Claire manages a meager smile. However, her expression changes when she notices the agents smile deflate. "I'm sorry, can you repeat that? You don't…what?" The agent says, holding a finger to his ear. Frank turns his head, locking eyes with his wife. His hand reaches to rest on her shoulder blade. "She is supposed to be at school."

Claire feels her stomach drop after hearing what the agent said. Frank squeezes her shoulder from behind.

"Agent Mitchell…where is our daughter?" Frank asks, drawing each word out slowly so he doesn't yell. Agent Mitchell shifts on the balls of his feet, knowing he doesn't have good news for the First Couple.

"We are…having trouble locating your daughter, sir, ma'am." Claire lifts her eyebrows.

"What the hell does that mean?" Claire asks, stepping away from her husband. She stands up straighter, using Frank's desk for leverage so she doesn't collapse.

Agent Mitchell takes a step back. He's heard from other agents how terrifying the First Lady can be, but he's never experienced it until now.

Frank shoves his hands in his pockets and stands behind Claire, noticing she's a little unsteady on her feet.

"I promise you, ma'am we have every available agent searching for your daughter." Claire sneers at him, not appreciating his attempt at pacifying her.

"If something happens to our daughter, we will bury you. Find her. Now." Frank glares at the agent, who is visibly sweating.

"Yes, of course ma'am. We will bring you up-to-the-minute updates." Agent Mitchell pulls his white dress shirt away from his neck as he speed-walks out of the Oval.

It takes all of two seconds for Claire to start leaning onto the desk. Frank wraps his arm around her waist in case she hits the floor. His surgical wound still won't allow him to support her body weight. If she goes down, he's going with her.

"Come here," Frank says to her, gently spinning her around so she's facing him. Claire shifts, using Frank's chair for leverage.

"Francis, what if—" she won't allow herself to finish her thought. There are too many scenarios that could happen, few with favorable outcomes. It's not a coincidence secret service suddenly can't find their daughter the day an ominous picture arrives at their doorstep.

Claire senses her husband's hands rest on both arms. He won't promise her they will find their daughter because he can't control the outcome.

"Sweetheart, we can't think like that," Frank reminds her, although internally, he's having the same negative thoughts as his wife. He brings her into a hug, letting her head fall onto his chest.

"I can't lose her," Claire whispers. Frank tightens his grip on her.

"We _won't._ " Their four-year-old won't become a casualty of their careers; Frank won't allow it.

More agents burst into the Oval, causing Claire to step away from her husband. They still need to maintain their professional demeanors regardless of the situation. Frank steps in front of his wife, just in case she doesn't want the agents to see her.

"What is it?" Frank asks, getting straight to the point. Agent Mitchell gestures to the other agent that she should be the one to tell Frank and Claire the news. "Well?"

The female agent steps forward, nervously tightening the ponytail securing her copper hair.

"Sir, ma'am, we canvassed the full area surrounding your daughter's school and…she's gone." Claire puts her hand on Frank's waist to steady herself. She is the First Lady and vice president of the United States, she can't be seen falling apart.

"Gone? How do our agents lose track of a four-year-old?" Frank asks, nearly spitting each word out. He's furious with their detail. For their daughter to go accounted for, for this long is unacceptable.

Frank turns his shoulder to look at his wife, who is staring straight ahead. Her face is void of any emotion, which is how he knows she's trying not to cry.

"We are sorry sir, the agents watching your daughter were posted in their usual spots. One of them got called away and we believe that's when she went missing," the female agent tells Frank.

Claire clears her throat and steps forward next to her husband instead of behind him.

"I want every available law enforcement officer looking for her. I want this whole _fucking_ district to shut down until we find her. Do I make myself clear?"

There's a steel present in Claire's voice that she only reserves when she's at her most vulnerable. Frank shift his eyes away from his wife to the agents who look justifiably terrified.

"Understood ma'am, we will check in shortly," Agent Mitchell says and nudges the female agent to follow him out of the office.

When the door to the Oval closes, Claire walks to the couch and sits down. Frank watches her grab a nearby pillow and hug it to her chest. He eases his way towards her, sitting down next to her.

"There's not going to be a ransom, Francis," Claire mutters. Frank grabs her hand, skimming his thumb across her fingers.

"I know," he admits. Whoever kidnapped Emily made their intentions clear; they don't want money, just revenge.

Claire jerks her head away as her face crumples. Frank reaches over, gliding his hand across her back until it's cupping her shoulder. He's gently pulling on her, so her head is resting on his upper chest. Claire is resisting, shaking her head while her body trembles with sobs.

"Come here, come here," Frank says. Claire relents, her body relaxing into his. She kicks her feet up, watching as Frank grabs them and briefly rubs them. They sit there in silent for a few moments. Claire senses her husband quivering as well.

She's glad they are able to be like this with each other after all they've been through in the past few years. They've always been each other's biggest support system.

"We can't…" Claire pauses to sniff, "ignore the fact that someone in the secret service might be involved." Frank nods against her hair and loosens his grip on her.

"I'll put Doug on it. I trust him to be discrete." Claire shakes her head, angling away from her husband to lock eyes with him.

"No, Francis, Emily is scared of Doug. I don't want her to be afraid to come back if he finds her." Frank furrows his eyebrows.

"She's scared of Doug? I didn't know that." Claire leans her head on his shoulder and picks up his tie, kneading it in her fingers.

"She calls him the Meanie behind his back. When you were in the hospital, he wasn't nice to her because he was angry at me."

"Why didn't you say anything?" He doesn't want his daughter to be afraid of the people in their inner circle.

"Doug isn't going to change, but he's good at what he does for you."

"I'll have him do an internal investigation on secret service. We need to find out if someone is targeting us, Claire." Claire lips trembles as tears cloud her eyes again.

"It's too late, Francis. Someone already has our girl." With his free hand, Frank reaches into his pocket to send a text to Doug.

"I promise you, if Doug finds someone on the inside involved, I will personally take care of them." Claire wipes her eyes with the back of her hand. She knows what her husband is implying and is right there with him.

"Like Emily's old pediatrician?"

" _What? Well, that is hardly my problem," Frank says into the phone. In the aftermath of Peter Russo's death, they only have one more person to clear out of the way so Frank can be vice president. However, Raymond Tusk is proving to be a worth adversary, and he has the president's ear._

 _His cellphone beeps on the desk and he grabs it up with his hands, balancing the phone on his shoulder. It's a text from Claire with the words "Emily. Hospital. Need you."_

" _I have to go. Just figure it out yourself." Frank hangs up the phone and yells for Doug. Doug appears from the hallway connecting his and Frank's offices._

" _Sir?" Doug asks, awaiting his orders. Frank is tugging the lapels of his gray blazer towards his body._

" _Claire just texted me that Emily is in the hospital. I need to go. Get Nancy and have Meechum waiting with a car." Doug is one of the few people that know about Emily._

" _Of course. Sir, I wouldn't go out of the usual way, there are press still waiting for a comment from you on Peter." The media has been hounding Frank and Claire since they gave their statement on the townhouse steps in the days after Peter's death._

" _Thanks Doug."_

 _Meechum has a car already parked near one of the Capitol's many restricted exits. Frank texts Claire that he is on his way. Emily's been sick the past few days, and Claire stayed home from work today to make sure their one-and-a-half-year-old is being properly looked after._

 _When Frank arrives at the hospital, he's escorted to the pediatric unit. Claire is standing outside a glassed room, looking at the doctor tending to their daughter._

" _Claire, what happened?" Frank asks, throwing his briefcase on a nearby couch and reaching to hug his wife._

" _She wouldn't stop coughing. I had to…I had to take her in." Claire pulls away, but Frank keeps his hand on her back. "They think she has pneumonia."_

" _I thought you took her to the doctor on Tuesday?" Claire nods._

" _I did. They gave her antibiotics and told me that she would be fine." Frank bites his lip and rips his phone out of his breast pocket._

" _Who are you texting?" Claire asks. The expression on her husband's face is lethal._

" _Doug." Frank turns when Claire gasps. He sends the text and puts his phone away._

" _They are putting her on oxygen, Francis," Claire's tone comes out as anguished. Her face dissolves into tears. They haven't dealt with anything as serious as this, especially regarding their child._

" _She'll be okay, sweetheart. Come on, let's sit with her," Frank holds out his hand, grinning slightly when Claire grasps it._

"Whatever happened to that doctor by the way?"

"Last I heard he was operating a non-profit clinic in Burma, without a medical license."

"Good."

Claire abruptly stands up and straightens a wrinkle in her maroon blouse. Frank stands up with her, perplexed by the sudden movement.

"I should get back to work," she sets her hand on his arm, "come get me if the secret service has any updates."

"Okay," Frank brushes a kiss on her cheek. Claire exits the Oval Office and quickly walks into the nearest bathroom to throw up. She feels completely paralyzed. If something happens to their daughter, it will be her and Frank's fault.

Back in the Oval, Frank sits down at his desk and boots up his laptop. There are countless things he could be doing right now, including skimming through a briefing for an upcoming meeting with the Cabinet, but all he can think about is Emily.

When Claire became pregnant, he was firm in his stance on children. He didn't want them, and he thought his wife didn't either. Neither of them had particularly pleasant childhoods, and their careers wouldn't allow them to adequately raise a child.

It took a while for Frank to truly feel like a father. It wasn't when Claire told him she was pregnant, or the first time he felt his daughter move, or even when Emily was born. It was an insignificant moment shortly before Emily turned one that cemented his status as her dad.

 _Frank's been skirting his night to put their daughter to bed for almost two weeks due to a huge voting bill he's trying to get approved. Claire places Emily in her bouncy seat and calls her husband, expecting to get his voicemail._

" _Hello." Frank is exhausted, she can hear it in his voice. He's been pulling sixteen-hour days at the Capitol with little progress._

" _Hey. You sound tired. Did you eat?" They both tend to run themselves ragged during stressful times. She can't take care of Emily and Frank, nor should she have to._

" _No. We were going to order something soon." Claire glances at Emily who is trying to put her fist in her mouth._

" _Why don't we come by and bring you something to eat?"_

" _Here?" Claire's been extremely against bringing Emily into either of their offices, especially Frank's._

" _Sure. It's late. Steve can sneak us in. I'll stop and get those sandwiches you like." Frank picks up on the firmness of Claire's tone. She's made up her mind about it, and there's little point in trying to dissuade her._

" _Okay. I'll see you soon."_

 _Claire bundles Emily up and gets her secured in her car seat. They make a detour at a café near the Capitol and arrive shortly after in Frank's office. Doug makes himself scarce, mumbling something about calling senators._

" _Hey," Frank says. He's happy to see his wife. The only time he's seen her lately is when they are getting ready together in the morning or after she's fallen asleep in their bed. Claire sets the car seat down and eases Emily out of it while Frank digs into his food._

 _Claire walks with Emily over to her husband's desk, sitting on top of it._

" _How's it coming?" Emily bounces on Claire's lap, letting out a coo every now and then._

" _Not good." Frank dabs his mouth with a napkin._

" _What can I do?"_

" _Hand me Em," Frank says. He doesn't want to talk about politics right now, even with his wife. Claire obliges, handing their daughter over to Frank. Emily's blue eyes widen when her pacifier gets knocked loose during the transfer._

 _The pacifier manages to fall into the garbage can beneath Frank's desk, rendering it unusable. Claire glances at Frank, waiting for their daughter to start crying._

 _Emily stares at her father for a moment and then breaks out into a wide grin._

" _Hi!" Emily exclaims, as if she's known this word her whole life. A smile ignites on Frank's lips. He's heard Emily say a few things here and there, but this is the first time she's directly addressed him._

" _Hi Em," Frank says back._

"Francis," Claire says. Frank looks up, he doesn't know when his wife returned to his office.

"What? Did you hear something?" Claire shakes her head and steps further into the room.

"No. We can't act as if she's already gone. Promise me that."

"Why would you—?"

"The photo. You always look at that photo when something is bothering you." Claire points to the picture Frank has in his hand. It's a photo of Emily sleeping in Claire's arms moments after she was born. Frank is smiling down at Claire, seemingly in awe of her.

His wife is right. This photo centers him, it's why he keeps it tucked away in his desk.

"Okay. We can't afford to do this to ourselves. Has the press picked up on anything?" Frank puts the photo away and closes the drawer.

"That's why I came in here. Seth wants us to do a press conference. He thinks it will help."

Personally, Frank is against the idea of pleading with the American people to help facilitate the safe return of their daughter. It could make them look weak or inspire people to start calling in fake tips.

"I think we should hold off for a little bit." Claire tilts her head in confusion.

"Why? We have to do everything we can to find her." Frank stands up and steps towards her, placing his hands on her shoulders.

"I'm not saying we shouldn't do it, but it might not bode well if we announce our daughter's kidnapping."

Claire steps away from him, wondering if what she's hearing is real.

"We can't worry about what this will do for us politically right now. This is our family, Francis." What Frank meant to say didn't come out right. Claire thinks he's concerned about the optics of this, when he's merely thinking about Emily's safety.

"All I'm saying is we don't want to tip the scales in their favor." Claire is no longer listening. She starts walking out of the office.

"We are doing the press conference. Change your suit and meet me in the press room in a half hour." She roughly shuts the door behind her. Frank lets out a long sigh. His wife misheard him, and she's too emotional at the moment to listen to reasoning.

Nevertheless, Frank does as his wife requests and is waiting in the area attached to the press room. Claire is already there, wearing an ink-colored conservative dress. She laid out a black suit with a navy tie for him.

"Seth wants us to walk out hand-in-hand together and have me do most of the talking." Claire says to him, not bothering to look up as she hands him his script. Frank takes the piece of paper from her and skims it. "The language is a little strong, but it gets our point across."

Seth approaches the couple before Frank can debate with Claire about what they are going to say. He would rather not make it seem like they are reading off a teleprompter as it could come off as callous.

"You ready?" Seth asks.

"Yes, let's go." Claire says for the two of them. Frank reaches down to clasp Claire's hand, squeezing it as a form of an apology. Claire doesn't squeeze back and walks ahead, forcing him to follow.

Claire approaches the podium first with Frank behind her.

"Good afternoon. This morning, we received a credible threat to our daughter's life." Claire clears her throat as the camera flashes intensify. The reporters immediately jerk to attention, ready to write down everything the Underwoods' say. "And it pains me to report…that she is now missing."

Frank skims his hand over Claire's back. Claire wants to shrug him off but can't because she knows how that would look. _Now you are thinking exactly like him,_ she thinks to herself.

"If anyone has seen Emily, or knows where she is, we implore you to come forward." Her voice fractures as she looks down to regain composure. Frank steps up, keeping his arm on her back, rubbing it gently for support.

"What my wife is trying to say is we love our daughter dearly and all we want is her safe return home. We've set up a tip-line and are in constant communication with the secret service. Em, we love you and we will see you soon. Thank you."

Claire grabs his hand, allowing him to lead her away from the press. Seth slides the door shut, so the media can't see them. It means something to her that he did the press conference even if he was against the idea. Her goal is the same as his—to bring Emily back.

"I want you to be manning the phones, get other people to help you," Frank instructs Seth. There are going to be a lot of calls coming in and he needs the staff to filter through all the noise.

"Is there anything specific to your daughter that would be some kind of indicator it's her?" Seth asks.

"You mean…proof of life?" Claire asks, choking on the words.

"Essentially, yes. Any favorite stuffed animal, or phrase that only the three of you would know?"

"Her code name, Tiny Eagle. She would know that," Claire whispers. Seth nods and excuses himself to go to work.

"Seth, tell Doug I need to see him in my office," Frank tells him.

"Got it." Seth disappears into an empty office as the blaring of the phones' echoes through the press room. Claire puts her hand on Frank's wrist, pinching it softly before walking away. It's her way of saying thank you, but to know that she isn't ready to have a full conversation yet.

When Frank gets back to the Oval, Doug is waiting.

"Is Claire joining us?" Doug asks. Frank shakes his head; his wife doesn't want to be bothered right now. If there's vital information she needs to be aware of, he will inform her after.

"What do we know?" Doug hands Frank a briefing folder, giving him time to page through it.

"Are we sure?"

"Yes, it's been confirmed. It was a wire transfer that was initiated yesterday paid to two secret service agents on your daughter's detail. We are tracking those agents down now." Frank closes the folder and puts it down on his desk.

"Do you think they are the ones who have Emily?"

"It's too hard to tell from this, sir. We know they are involved, just not how yet."

"Thanks Doug." Doug leaves Frank to process this information. Not long after, he walks to his wife's office.

"She's in there," Claire's assistant informs Frank. Frank pops his head in, seeing Claire staring at her computer screen.

"You can come in, Francis." Frank closes the door behind him and sits in a chair across from her desk. He's not used to being in here, usually she just comes to the Oval. "Did Doug have anything?"

"Two secret service agents on Emily's detail were paid off. He's trying to find the agents." Claire gives a clipped nod and Frank's takes this as a sign to leave her office.

"I was thinking about…" Claire begins, capturing Frank's attention. "I was thinking about, the other day, what our lives were like before Emily."

Frank tilts his head, and walks on the other side of her desk, closer to her.

"What do you mean?" Claire shrugs and takes her glasses off.

"I don't know, we had more freedom of course, but it was a little lonely at times." Claire shakes her head. "I'm being silly."

Frank never knew Claire felt this way prior to having their daughter. She always acted as if they had everything they wanted, and children would get in the way.

"We can't act as if she's already gone, remember?" Frank reminds her what she told him mere hours earlier.

"I know. It's just…hard. I need her back." Frank puts his hand on her shoulder, and she reaches up to grab it. They both acted irrationally with the press conference, but they've already put it behind them.

"Cigarette?" Frank asks. Having a cigarette together will give them time to de-stress.

"Yes, I'll meet you in your office."

Frank steps away just as Doug comes bursting into Claire's office.

"We found her. We found Emily," Doug announces slightly out of breath. Claire gets out of her chair to stand next to her husband.

"Where?" Frank asks. He's imagining Emily in the deepest, darkest crack house in Southeast D.C.

"Someone found her walking on the side of the road by Adams-Morgan. She's being taken to the hospital now."

 **A/N 2: There's a little bit more left, I hope you guys will stick with me until the end! What happened to poor Emily? Please leave a review with your thoughts and thank you for reading. Happy holidays!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: As always, I want to thank you for reading and reviewing this and the fics before it. I really appreciate it! I hope you enjoy the latest chapter.**

 **Chapter Nine**

" _We found her. We found Emily," Doug announces, slightly out of breath. Claire gets out of her chair and stands next to her husband._

" _Where?" Frank asks. He's imagining Emily in the deepest, darkest crack house in Southeast D.C._

" _Someone found her walking on the side of the road by Adams-Morgan. She's being taken to the hospital now."_

"Someone found her on the side of the road? How?" Claire asks. She can't imagine her four-year-old walking aimlessly through Washington. It makes her stomach turn.

"I don't have many details. Someone called in a tip after seeing someone matching your daughter's description and it panned out."

Claire sets her hand on Frank's arm, wondering why he hasn't said anything yet. She glances down, seeing his thumb gliding over his clenched fists. Someone did this to their daughter, and Frank won't stop until he finds out who they are.

"Doug, is she…okay?" Frank asks, his voice barely registering. Doug shoves his hands in his pockets and averts the First Couple's eyes.

"They are saying her injuries are…extensive." Claire's mouth flips open as bile rises in her throat.

"Jesus," Frank spits out, turning away from Claire and Doug.

"Thank you, Doug. Let us know if there's any new developments," Claire says for the both of them.

"Sure," Doug eyes Frank sympathetically and closes the door behind him.

Claire turns to her husband, knowing by the devastation in his features he's blaming himself as much as she is. Someone hurt their daughter because of them. They are lucky whoever did this didn't enact their threat completely.

"Francis?" Claire asks softly, approaching him with caution. Her hand skims up his back, feeling how tense he is under her touch. "We can't let Emily see how upset we are." Whatever he needs to do to let out his pent-up rage, she wants him to do it before they see Emily. Their daughter is scared enough, she doesn't need to be afraid of her own father.

"No. Let's go."

"Fine. Let me get my jacket." Claire grabs her black pea coat off the chair and scoops up her cell phone. Frank watches her, wondering how his wife can be so calm in the face of what they just heard. They are exact opposites when it comes to dealing with difficult situations. She goes inward, almost shielding herself from having to deal with her emotions. Frank is an orator; he has to vocalize his frustrations. What makes them work so well together is they are able to switch roles when the need arises. Claire can feel Frank staring at her as she swings her coat over her shoulders. "She's _alive_ Francis, that's all that matters right now."

Frank nods in understanding. They have to shift their focus for their daughter at the moment. They can concentrate on themselves later.

Claire grabs his hand, leading him out of her office. Assorted staffers and interns are staring at them, having heard from the news the status of the First Daughter. Frank glares at anybody attempting to make eye contact with him. He and Claire will make a formal statement to the press after Emily is brought home.

Secret Service turns their sirens on, a gesture of respect to the First Couple. Vehicles give the motorcade a wide berth the whole way to the hospital. In the car, Claire reaches over, softly rubbing Frank's thigh. He twists, picking up Claire's hand and bringing it to his lips, softly kissing it.

The media is already camped out at the main entrance of the hospital, waiting for Frank and Claire. Secret Service brings them to the emergency room instead, where cameras aren't allowed.

Agents clear a private room for the First Couple to wait until a doctor is available to apprise them of Emily's condition. Claire is aimlessly flipping through a magazine while Frank is scrolling through his emails.

"Claire, there's a video of Emily," Frank mumbles and sits down next to Claire. He tilts the screen so his wife can see the clip Seth sent him moments ago.

It's a poorly captured cellphone video of their daughter, who is crying heavily and holding her arm.

"Hey, isn't that the missing girl from the news?" A man's voice asks in the background. The camera jerks from Emily to inside of the car.

"That's not just any girl, you idiot. That's the president's daughter. Don't you know anything?" Another man's voice asks. Frank and Claire hear the sound of a window rolling down and one of the men yelling Emily's name. Then, the video goes dead.

Seeing their daughter, so shaken up and terrified, makes tears spring to Claire's eyes.

"Whoever did this, we have to strike back hard and fast. I want them obliterated," Frank tells his wife. Claire sniffs, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her black coat.

"More than that…Let's make them suffer."

Someone knocks on the door and a nurse steps into the room, holding a file. Frank and Claire glance at each other in confusion. They were under the impression they were waiting to see their daughter.

"Mr. President, Mrs. Vice President, I'm Jenni Stevens, the nurse assigned to your daughter's care." A tall blonde woman steps forward, holding her hand out for Frank and Claire to shake.

"Hi. Where's Emily?" Frank asks for the two of them. Claire shakes the nurse's hand and stands beside her husband. Jenni gestures for the couple to follow her.

"Your daughter is being treated on the floor above us. We couldn't give her any medication until you signed some consent forms." Jenni says to Frank and Claire as she is escorting them to the elevator. Secret Service is a step behind them, not allowing anyone to get within ten feet of Frank or Claire.

"How is she?" Claire asks. The three of them step into the elevator with an agent escort.

"She's scared…I don't think she fully understands what happened." Frank notices that the nurse is avoiding Emily's physical condition.

"And her injuries?" Frank asks. The elevator doors open to what the Underwoods' can assume is the pediatric unit of the hospital. Frank was here a few months ago when Emily and Claire got into an accident. He stayed with Emily here until they could be let into Claire's room.

Jenni doesn't respond until they are outside of a sliding glass door. She stands in front of Frank and Claire, blocking them from seeing the four-year-old.

"I have to warn you, Mr. and Mrs. Underwood, your daughter's injuries might be hard to…swallow at first. Emily is fine, and she will make a full recovery, but someone hurt her."

Claire is tired of the nurse using vague terms to describe Emily's condition. She would rather know exactly what happened in order to better serve their daughter's needs.

"What happened to our daughter?" Claire asks in a faint attempt to keep her irritation at bay. The nurse sighs and closes the file she was looking at.

"Honestly, your daughter was hit several times in the face. And it looks like she sustained a bucket-handle fracture."

Frank and Claire are trying to absorb what's being relayed to them one syllable at a time.

"What's a bucket-handle—?" Frank asks but finds himself unable to finish his thought.

"We see it a lot in victims of child abuse. It's when someone grabs and shakes a child so forcefully that it causes a fracture in their elbow. It's uncommon to see it in children over two, but it's possible." The nurse can tell by the stunned faces on the first couple that they need reassurance. "I know this is hard to process…"

Claire flinches away from the nurse attempting to touch her. Frank clasps his wife's hand, squeezing it.

"Thank you. Can we see our daughter?" Claire asks. The nurse looks put-off by Claire's frosty demeanor. She's been a longtime fan of the First Lady, watching most of her speeches, including the press conference this morning regarding Emily's disappearance. It almost seems as if the emotions displayed in front of the media were a performance, and not who Claire really is.

"Of course. She's right in there," The nurse points to the room behind them. "Excuse me, I have to see other patients."

Frank mumbles a quick thank you as the nurse brushes past them. Claire is motionless, staring straight ahead at the glass barrier separating them from Emily. The four-year-old is preoccupied with watching what Claire and Frank can assume is a movie. She's holding her arm close to her body, a sling covering it.

"Sweetheart?" Frank steps in front of Claire, placing his hands on her cheeks. She leans into him, causing Frank to shift so he is hugging her instead. He glides his hand up her back and briefly presses his lips to her temple.

After a few moments, Claire steps away, blotting her eyelids with the bend in her finger.

"Francis, when we go in there, no matter how bad it is, we can't react in front of her. If you need to step out, do it." Frank nods in understanding and sets his hand on the small of Claire's back, gently pushing her towards their daughter's hospital room.

Claire quietly opens the sliding glass door, stepping inside the room. Frank walks in behind her. Emily hasn't registered her parents coming into the room yet, she's too engrossed in the movie.

Frank swallows a gasp when his eyes sweep over his daughter's body. There's a cut on Emily's lip as well as a gash on her cheek. The same arm she broke nearly a year earlier is encapsulated by a sling. The rest of Emily's body is covered by a blanket, but Frank is guessing they haven't seen the full extent of her injuries.

"Hi Emily," Claire says softly as she sits down in a chair next to her daughter's bed. Frank sits next to Claire, winking at Emily.

"Hi Mommy," Emily whispers while keeping her attention focused on the screen. Frank is accustomed to Emily rushing to hug him, chattering animatedly about something she saw or experienced. He hasn't seen her this quiet since she was sedated after breaking her arm.

"How are you feeling darlin'?" Frank asks.

"My arm hurts. I wanna go home, Daddy." Emily hasn't said anything yet regarding the kidnapping, and Frank and Claire are hesitant to ask. They don't want to pressure their daughter into talking about something that traumatizing so soon after it happened. Like Claire, they believe Emily will open up when she is ready.

"I know, Em. We will get you home as soon as possible," Frank promises. He wonders why Emily is being kept here if her injuries are not life-threatening. If his daughter feels more comfortable at home, then she should be back at the White House.

Agent Mitchell knocks on the glass door, popping his head in when Claire waves him in. He's wearing the standard black aviator sunglasses agents wear when they are outside of the White House.

"Sir, ma'am, we are preparing a heavier detail to bring you back to the—"

Emily turns her head at the deep voice and sees the agent wearing sunglasses. She screams and launches herself at Claire, sobbing into her shoulder. Claire is caught off-guard and throws her arms around Emily, feeling her daughter shaking.

"Go away!" Emily wails, gripping the back of Claire's neck with her free hand. Frank's eyes slide over to his wife, wearing the same confused expression as she is.

"It's okay honey." Claire tells Emily and motions for Frank to get the agent to leave the room. Obviously, his presence is bothering their daughter.

"I'm sorry, we will let you know when it's safe to leave," Agent Mitchell tells the Underwood's and closes the door behind him.

"He's gone, Em. It's okay," Frank says. He reaches over to rub the four-year-old's back. Emily still hasn't emerged from Claire's shoulder. "Was that the man who hurt you?"

Emily peeks over her shoulder, getting confirmation it's just her and her parents in the room. Claire carefully maneuvers her daughter, so she is sitting on her lap.

"I don't know, Daddy. He had dem glasses on. He said dat if I not go wif him, he hurt you and Mommy. He hit me and hurted my arm." Emily's cerulean eyes fill with tears again, leaking onto her cheeks.

Frank abruptly gets out of the chair and paces around the room. Claire sees the fury radiating off him.

"Francis, go see if we can leave," Claire tells her husband, giving him an excuse to leave the room without scaring Emily. Frank nods, and excuses himself out of the room, ducking into an empty conference room. He sees an office chair idling in the corner and throws it to the ground.

"Is Daddy mad?" Emily asks, seeing the expression on her dad's face before he walked out of the room.

"He's upset that someone hurt you, Emily. He wants to find the person that did this to you."

Frank sends a text to Doug, asking him to look into Agent Mitchell. His daughter's instant reaction to him makes him suspicious. It's unlikely Emily saw the face of the man that kidnapped her, which is probably the reason she's still alive.

"Can we check my daughter, Emily Underwood, out soon? She wants to go home," Frank says to a nurse at the reception desk. The nurse types something into her computer and nods.

"Yes, she is okay to leave. According to my notes, she should be seen in a few weeks to look at her elbow. There is also a child psychiatrist who we recommend your daughter seeing."

"Thank you." Frank says to the nurse and lets himself back into Emily's room. The toddler seems calmer than before, but she is still tightly holding onto Claire's jacket. "We can go home."

A nurse comes by so Frank can sign Emily's discharge forms. Claire brings Emily into a connecting bathroom, helping her change back into the school uniform she came in.

"Pick your leg up, Emily," Claire instructs. Emily is trying to balance her hand on Claire's shoulder while failing to step into her plaid skirt.

"I can't Mommy, it hurts," Emily whines and nearly falls back onto the floor. Claire furrows her eyebrows. She thought Emily's injuries only are on her face and arm.

"Your leg hurts too?" Claire asks. Emily nods and twists her leg so her mother can see. "Oh my God." Claire's vision clouds with unshed tears at the sight of her daughter's leg. There's massive bruising as well as gauze covering the majority of Emily's thigh. She has to swallow the lump in her throat because Emily is staring at her, looking like she's about to cry too. "It's okay, Emily. Sit on the toilet and I'll dress you."

Claire would rather focus on the task at hand than digest the extent of her daughter's injuries. Remorse and rage bubble inside her. Emily didn't deserve being kidnapped; this only happened to her because she is _their_ child.

Emily and Claire emerge from the bathroom where Frank is waiting. He eyes his wife up and down, noticing a shift in her behavior. Her lips are curled into a frown, but her azure eyes are ignited with fury.

"You ready to go, Em?" Frank asks. Emily nods and motions for Claire to pick her up. The three of them are shuffled into an awaiting car, away from the press. All the media knows at the moment is that Emily has been safely recovered, no other details have been released, and Frank and Claire would like to keep it that way. The last thing Emily needs is a camera in her face with an overeager reporter shouting questions at her.

When they arrive back at the residence, the chef already prepared Emily's favorite meal for them— spaghetti with meatballs.

"Daddy, it's like dat movie I watch wif the dogs!" Emily exclaims, smiling for the first time today.

"I know, Em. I asked the chef to make it for you," Frank tells her. Claire grins at her husband, touched by the sweet gesture for their daughter. Emily carefully walks over to her seat, while Claire disappears into the kitchen to throw up into the sink. Claire reaches for a towel to blot her mouth as Frank comes in the room. "There's more isn't there?"

"Yes, on her leg. It looks like she jumped out of a moving vehicle." Frank knew Claire saw something devastating when she was helping Emily change. He hands her a glass of water, watching her take a few sips.

"Christ."

"Mommy! Daddy!" Emily yells from the dining room. Claire swipes the wine from the fridge, and they walk back to the table to have dinner with their daughter. They make it a point to keep the conversation light, steering away from mentioning anything related to the kidnapping. More details will emerge in the upcoming days, but for now, they would like to pretend this is a night like any other.

"You can sleep in my bed tonight," Claire tells her daughter. She is guessing Emily is going to have nightmares at some point during the night.

"Can we watch a movie Mommy and Daddy?" Both Claire and Frank aren't usually home at night to put the toddler to bed. Emily will take full advantage of it while she can.

"Of course, go pick out a movie," Claire instructs the four-year-old. Emily slowly gets out of her chair and limps over to the living room. "Any news?" Frank tears his eyes away from watching Emily walk and nods.

"Doug thinks he found the source of the money. He's going to give us a full briefing tomorrow." Claire nods and walks over to the couch with Frank behind her. Emily is already sitting with her rabbit tucked under her arm. "What movie are we watching, Em?"

"The movie wif the doggies," Emily tells her father matter-of-factly. Claire chuckles at her daughter's bluntness, a trait she definitely acquired from her. Frank sits down first, and Claire sits next to him, leaning on his shoulder. She appreciates him sticking around the residence to be with Emily instead of running back to the Oval like she thought he would.

Emily falls asleep before the movie is over and Claire carries into her bedroom, shutting the door behind her. Frank is sitting at the windowsill, a cigarette lounging in his hand. Claire lets out a sigh as she sits next to him.

"Emily go down okay?" Frank asks as the smoke filters out of his mouth. He passes the cigarette over to Claire.

"Yes, for now." She lets them fall into a semi-comfortable silence. Frank takes the cigarette from her after realizing it sitting untouched in her hands. Claire jolts to attention and watches her husband inhale. "I don't know what to say to her."

"What do you mean?" Frank taps the cigarette on the rim of the coffee mug doubling as an ashtray.

"I want to say something to Emily…to make her feel better, but sometimes I don't know what to say. It's uncomfortable." Frank remembers her saying relatively the same thing after he came home from the hospital post-shooting. He reaches over, collecting her hand in his own.

"You are doing a great job with her." She tightens her grip on his hand. He hands the cigarette back to her, watching her inhale deeply. "May I bring up something?" Claire nods, withdrawing the cigarette from her mouth. He shouldn't even have to ask—they tell each other everything. They are still trying to get back to that place of complete transparency with one another that eroded prior to, and during the separation.

"What?" Frank takes the cigarette back, getting a quick puff in before Claire steals it back.

"That comment you made in your office earlier about what our life was like before Emily…if we didn't have her or any children, would've you have resented me for it?" Claire is stunned by her husband's question.

"No, Francis. I was well aware of what we agreed to when we got married and I was okay with it. It wasn't some void I felt—" her voice trails off. "I wasn't even sure I wanted to have Emily when I was pregnant with her."

"What changed your mind?" Frank asks. He takes a final pull of the cigarette before handing it to Claire. Claire brushes the cigarette to her lips while shrugging. She can't pinpoint wanting to keep Emily to a single moment or reason.

"I don't know…I just knew she was our last chance."

"I'm glad you convinced me it was a good idea to have her," Frank quietly admits. Claire smirks at him.

"Our daughter has you wrapped around her finger," Frank scoffs and accepts the cigarette back.

"Please, don't be ridic—" Frank stops when he sees Emily coming towards them, crying into her hands.

"What's wrong, Em?" Claire tosses the cigarette into the coffee mug. Frank gently picks Emily up, so she is sitting between him and Claire.

"B... Bad man, Daddy. He come back and get me and Mommy!" Emily says through her sobs.

"Em, you are safe here." Frank assures their daughter, although what he's saying isn't exactly true. If Secret Service is involved, they have access to the Underwoods' at the residence. Claire bends down and picks up her daughter's rabbit that came loose when Emily was running. She hands to her daughter, knowing Emily needs the comfort.

"I 'fraid…" Emily whispers. She sniffs and buries her head into her rabbit.

"Do you want to talk about it, Emily? Sometimes when I have bad dreams, it helps if I talk about it," Claire says. Emily lifts her head up and furrows her eyebrows.

"You have bad dreams too, Mommy?" She is so used to seeing her parents as infallible— the most powerful people in the free world.

"I did. A long time ago, someone hurt me, and it scared me." Claire tries not to think about her rape or Dalton McGinnis at all, especially after Emily heard her having a nightmare after the pinning ceremony a few years ago.

 _The Underwoods' arrive back to the townhouse following their appearance at a pinning ceremony. Claire immediately starts walking up the stairs towards Emily's bedroom. Even if the two-year-old is asleep, she would like to see her before she heads to bed._

" _Hey," Frank whispers and sets his hands on the bottom of the stair railing. He thinks they need to have a conversation about what transpired earlier. If he had any idea who Dalton McGinnis was and what he did to Claire, he wouldn't've been so insistent that she attended._

" _I'm tired. I'm going to see Emily," Claire mumbles, turning briefly to look at him before walking upstairs. She quietly peeks into her daughter's room, smiling at Emily's sleeping frame. Frank goes downstairs to play video games, his go-to way of blowing off steam._

 _About an hour later, Emily hears someone screaming from across the hall. She rubs her eyes and picks up her bunny. Even though she's not supposed to leave her room in the middle of the night, she wants to make sure her parents are okay._

" _No!" Emily hears a voice similar to her mom's on the other side of her parents' bedroom door. She stands on her tiptoes in an attempt to open the door but falls a few inches short._

" _Mommy?" Emily asks, hitting the door with her bunny. "Daddy?" She hears someone scream again and toddles down the stairs._

" _Emily? Is that you?" Meechum asks when he sees the toddler. He heard someone screaming and wanted to do a full search of the townhouse and surrounding area. Frank is still outside smoking, needing a few moments of privacy._

" _I pfink Mommy's hurt Meechy," Emily tells the agent and runs over to him. Meechum picks her up and walks into the patio where Frank is._

" _Emily? What are you doing out of bed?" Frank asks while pocketing his vaping pen. Meechum sets Emily down and she scampers over to her father._

" _I think your wife is having a nightmare, sir. We heard screaming coming from your bedroom," Meechum explains. Concern ripples across Frank's face and he scoops up Emily, walking briskly through the townhouse until he reaches his bedroom door._

" _I'm going to see if Mommy is okay first," Frank explains when he sets Emily down on the floor. Claire will be embarrassed enough to have had a nightmare; she would want to calm down prior to seeing their daughter._

" _Okay." Frank sets Emily down and goes into his bedroom, closing the door behind him. Claire is spread out on her side of the bed, trembling as she thrashes around._

" _Claire? Sweetheart, wake up," Frank reaches over to nudge his wife. She's had nightmares before when they were in college, and he's been there to disarm her when they happen. "Claire! Wake up!" He shakes her shoulder and sees her eyes flip open. "Hey, are you okay?"_

 _Claire shakes her head, moving towards him. She thought she could suppress her nightmares like she has in the past, but seeing McGinnis again triggered them. Frank rubs her shoulder while she catches wayward tears with her fingers._

" _Mommy?" Emily yells from the other side of the door._

" _Wait, Emily's awake?" Claire asks with panic. She thought their daughter fell asleep hours before they got home._

" _She heard you and came and found me. Can I let her in?" Frank asks. Claire nods and Frank walks over to open the door, watching as Emily runs over to their bed._

" _Hi Emily," Claire whispers. Her daughter jumps in her lap, gripping her precious rabbit tightly._

" _Here Mommy, have Bunny," Emily mutters and hands Claire her favorite stuffed animal._

"You were so brave today, Em. Your mom and I are so proud of you," Frank says sincerely. Claire nods in agreement.

"Daddy, we stop and he let me out. Somebody say my name and it made him mad. He get me back in the car but dem people tell him to go wifout me. I fall and run away, I not know where you and Mommy are."

"That explains why you were on the side of the road," Claire mutters. "Emily, where were you going?"

"I go to the tall place that Daddy work at," Emily says. Frank furrows his eyebrows. It's hard to see the White House from where Emily was.

"You mean the White House?" Emily shakes her head.

"No, the oder one. The tall one!"

"The Capitol?" Claire asks. Emily nods eagerly, she remembers going to the Capitol several times while her dad was still a congressman.

"Huh," Frank says, impressed by their daughter's intelligence.

"Mommy, will you come wif me?" Emily asks through a yawn. Claire nods and hops off the windowsill. She gently sets Emily on the ground and waits as she kisses her father goodnight. Claire leans forward and stamps a kiss to Frank's cheek before being led to her bedroom by their daughter.

Emily gets situated in Claire's bed while she goes into the attached bathroom, closing and locking the door behind her. Claire opens her drawer and pulls out the pregnancy test she bought yesterday. She still hasn't gotten her period, which isn't unusual, but coupled with the nausea she's been experiencing; it's better to air on the side of caution.

She's not surprised when the test comes back negative. Her and Frank have only slept together once since reconciling, and given their age, it would be near impossible to conceive naturally.

"Damn," Claire mumbles and throws the test in the garbage. She hears Emily talking quietly to her bunny outside the bathroom door and smiles to herself. Despite her assertion to Frank that she is content with just Emily, an infinitesimal part of her was hoping they would have a second child completely on accident.

"Mommy, do you pfink we will get the bad man?" Emily asks as Claire slides under the covers. Claire dims the light on the bedside lamp while she mulls over her response. She wants to give her daughter peace of mind but not false hope.

"I don't know, Emily. I hope so. Daddy and I will do everything we can to make sure you are safe." Emily turns to face Claire, her cherub face illuminated by the faint lighting in the room.

"Did Daddy get the bad guy dat hurt you, Mommy?" Claire brushes a piece of Emily's brunette hair away from her face. By the time Frank knew who McGinnis was, it was too late to do anything about it.

"No, he didn't. But he never let him hurt me again and that matters too. Get some sleep." Claire brushes a kiss to Emily's head and watches her daughter drift off to sleep.

The next morning, Claire slips into Frank's office before their scheduled briefing with Doug. They decided to keep Emily home from school today, to give her time away from the press and anyone inquiring about her kidnapping.

"Hey Daddy," Emily casually says while walking into the office with her mother on her tail. Claire made the executive decision to bring Emily into the Oval today. She doesn't trust anyone besides her and Frank with their daughter until they complete their investigation of the secret service.

"Hi Em." Frank glances up from the piece of paper he was skimming, not realizing his daughter is in his office. Claire hands Emily her iPad and points to the couch where she can set up. After their meeting with Doug, Claire is going to take Emily back to her office so Frank can continue working. "What are you doing here?"

"Workin', just like you," Emily replies with a serious expression on her face. Claire bites her lip in amusement. Frank laughs just as Doug is coming into the room.

As usual, he doesn't acknowledge Emily's presence, even when the little girl greets him. Claire locks eyes with Frank and he nods, recognizing his wife is right about the way Doug treats their daughter. He will have a private conversation with his chief of staff about Emily on a later date. Right now, the most important issue is finding out who hurt their daughter.

"Sir, we quietly arrested two secret service agents in connection with your daughter's kidnapping yesterday," Doug tells Frank and hands him a file. Frank flips through it before passing it to Claire.

"Did they say what the motive was or who hired them?" Claire asks while slipping her reading glasses on her face.

"We know they weren't actually secret service agents. They were hired to do the same thing to Emily that you did to Jim Miller. Those were their words sir, not mine."

Claire's breath catches in her throat as she looks over at their daughter giggling at something on her iPad. Frank and Claire sentenced Jim Miller to death in order to ignite fear into the hearts of the American people. And now, because of what they did, their daughter almost died the same way.

"You mean—" Frank trails off, remembering watching the video of the captors slitting Jim Miller's throat in the Situation Room. He never could've imagined someone wanting to do the same thing to Emily. Claire blindly reaches for Frank's arm, thinking he will stabilize her.

"It looks that way. We won't know more until the full investigation is complete. For now, I wouldn't let the girl out of your sight," Doug says, finishing his boss' thought for him.

"Thanks Doug," Claire dismisses him. Her and Frank need time to discuss this privately.

"Of course," Doug leaves without another word. Frank's eyes slide over to his wife. She's gripping the lip of his chair so hard, her knuckles bleach white. He sets his hand on her shoulder while balling the other into a fist.

"I'm starting to question all of it, Francis," Claire says. He tilts his head, hoping she will elaborate. "What are we doing this all for?"

Frank is shocked by the doubt laced into his wife's voice. They've come so far—achieved so much _together._ It's too late for regrets.

"For this house. For each other. For our daughter." Emily glances up from her iPad, smiling at her parents.

"And it's because of this house that our daughter's throat was almost slit," Claire whispers back, not wanting to scare Emily sitting mere feet from them. Frank rests his hands on her shoulders.

"I know. We will solve this. There will be no mercy."

"I just wish…I didn't care so much," Claire admits. She is still in-line with the trajectory of their plan—after this term, he will pass the torch over to her and she will become the first female president of the United States. However, on days like today, they are reminded that their plans have unforeseen consequences.

A tiny grin springs to life on Frank's lips. He knew his wife just needed a gentle reminder of what they still have to accomplish. The ruthless side of Claire always prevails over anything else.

"I told you we never should've had children," Frank tells her, turning her gently so she is facing Emily. His hand is splayed on her lower back. She reaches behind, swinging his arm over her chest with her hand on top of his.

"I'm glad we did, honey." She mutters and they watch their daughter run over to them, holding her iPad.

"Are you ready, Mommy?" Emily asks. She was promised she could help her mom with work today.

"Yes," Claire steps away from her husband to grab her daughter's hand. "I'll see you later for the meeting with Seth?" She turns over her shoulder to glance at her husband. In response, he taps his knuckles twice on the desk.

"Mommy?" Emily asks Claire as they are walking down the hallway connecting the two offices.

"Yes, Emily?"

"Do you pfink you and Daddy will get the bad guys?" Claire shrugs as Emily grabs her hand.

"I think so, but we are dealing with dangerous people." Emily looks up at her mother.

"We can be dangrous too. Right, Mommy?" Claire smiles and picks up Emily, letting the four-year-old push her office door open.

"You are absolutely right, Emily."

 **The End…?**

 **A/N 2: Well guys, I think this is the end. I would love to keep writing this fic, but I can feel the waning interest and decline in reviews. If you want me to write an epilogue (or more), please let me know. Thank you, thank you and thank you for reading this,** _ **The Fallout**_ **and** _ **The Interview**_ **over the past couple years. Creating Emily's character and writing these fics has been so much fun. As always, you are more than welcome to share any potential ideas with me at any time. Have an amazing year!**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: I know this is the second time I've marked this complete and then added another chapter. (I figured you wouldn't mind** _ **too**_ **much.) Thank you for all the reviews that were left for me, they are the reason why I'm writing this. I hope you enjoy the epilogue!**

 **Chapter Ten**

"Francis, can you make sure Emily is awake?" Claire asks. She comes up behind her husband and skims her hand up his back. Frank is occupied with making sure his tie is tied correctly and gives her a half-nod. "I'm going to take a shower."

Frank turns to face her, letting her methodically straighten out his tie. She gives him a slight smile and brushes past him.

"Is it my day or yours to pick her up from school?" Frank asks, wanting to get his wife's attention before she disappears into the bathroom.

"I'm pretty sure it's your day."

It's been six months since Emily's kidnapping and Frank and Claire completely overhauled their daughter's security protocol as a result. Not only did they fire half of the agents assigned to their daughter's detail, they've made sure one of them is there to personally drop her off and pick her up every day after school.

Claire shuts the door to the bathroom and Frank walks down the hall to Emily's room. The toddler has recently started sleeping in her own bed through the night again. Often, Emily would start in her room and end up having a nightmare that sends her running into Claire's bed. Frank and Claire are trying to share a bed consistently for the first time in nearly three years, and it's difficult when their daughter is sandwiched between them.

"Daddy, what do you pfink of this?" Emily asks, pointing to a navy button-up dress shirt paired with a black skirt. It's an outfit reminiscent of something his wife would wear.

"I like it. Hurry up and get dressed, your mother has to get to a meeting this morning." Emily has taken to getting herself dressed ever since her sling came off earlier this month. "I'll get your breakfast ready."

A half an hour later, Frank and Emily are sharing a plate of apples at the kitchen table. Claire is nowhere to be seen, which is highly unusual. Typically she's ushering Emily out the door, taking her breakfast to-go.

"Daddy, where's Mommy? I'm gonna be late for school. Ian and me are not gonna see each other," Emily complains. Frank lets his coffee mug slowly detach from his lips. He hasn't heard his daughter or wife mention an Ian in conversation.

"Em, who is Ian?" Emily tilts her head at the change in her father's tone.

"Ian my buddy, Daddy. He shares his Goldfish wif me before school." Frank hides his sigh of relief. He swallows the rest of his coffee and leaves his daughter at the table.

"Claire?" Frank asks, knocking on the door to his wife's bedroom. He doesn't hear a response. Frank opens the door, seeing Claire sitting on the bed, still wrapped in a towel. She doesn't turn her head at his voice. "What's going on?"

Claire's wet, blonde hair is still matted to her forehead and she hasn't bothered to put on any clothes or makeup after her shower. Her cerulean eyes are red-rimmed, and Frank can't tell if it's from the shower or she's been crying.

"In the shower…Francis…I found…a lump." Claire's voice drops to a whisper at the end.

"A lump? Where?" Frank sits next to her on the bed. His eyes scan her up and down, looking for any difference in his wife. Claire extracts her towel, slowly pulling it back so her breast is exposed. She reaches for his hand, grabbing and guiding it to where she found the lump in the shower.

Frank glances down, gently kneading the pea-sized lump with his fingers. Claire softly winces, nervously biting her lip as she watches the realization sweep over her husband's face. He lets his hand drop to his side as Claire covers herself back up.

"Mommy! Daddy! I have to go!" Emily yells from the other side of the door. Claire gasps and presses her finger to her eyelid to catch a lingering tear.

"I don't want her to see me like this," Claire tells Frank. She won't allow herself to be weak in front of Emily. Frank turns to her, placing his hands on her shoulders.

"She won't. Get dressed and I'll buy us some time." Claire wordlessly nods and walks into her closet. Frank makes sure his wife isn't visible before opening the door to her bedroom.

"Daddy, where's Mommy?" Emily asks. She cranes her neck around her father but doesn't see her mother standing behind him.

"She's getting dressed. She's not feeling good this morning. I'm going to take you to school." Emily furrows her eyebrows at the abrupt change in their morning routine.

Frank shuts the door in Emily's face, not wanting their daughter to come in. He rounds the corner, needing to check on his wife. Claire is buttoning up her white dress shirt, avoiding eye contact with him.

"I should probably drop her off at school. What do you want to do?" Frank asks. Claire slips her ebony pumps onto her foot.

"I need to get in to see my doctor."

"Do you think it could be—"

"I don't know." Frank and Claire hear Emily pounding impatiently on the door.

"I need to take her. Call me when you know something." Frank presses a kiss to Claire's cheek and quickly opens and closes the door to prevent Emily from running inside.

The toddler is waiting with a pout on her face and her arms crossed.

"Daddy, I'm going to miss Ian," Emily whines. Frank picks her up as they walk out of the residence.

"I'm sorry, Em. I wanted to make sure your mom was okay before I left." Honestly, Frank doesn't care that his daughter will miss seeing this boy. He's more preoccupied with figuring out what's wrong with Claire.

"Is Mommy sick?" Emily asks with concern seeping into her voice. Frank hesitates with his answer. He won't even consider the notion of explaining cancer to their daughter until or if Claire receives that diagnosis.

"I don't think so, Em. I think she just ate something that didn't agree with her." Frank lies. Emily nods and assists her father in strapping herself into the car seat. Frank slides in next to his daughter just as his phone vibrates in his breast pocket. It's a text from his wife: _getting my blood drawn in an hour. I'll let you know when I know something._

 _Ok. I'll leave the ringer on._ Frank texts back and pockets his phone. Emily is looking at him, suspicion arising in her azure eyes. The four-year-old senses something amiss with her parents but doesn't know how to effectively articulate herself.

"Daddy, I want Mommy to pick me up from school," Emily declares.

"I'm not sure if that's possible, Em. We will have to see how your mom is feeling." Frank watches Emily internally decide whether she's going to push the issue or not. Their daughter can be incredibly stubborn, like both of them.

The car rolls to a stop in front of Emily's school. Frank unstraps his daughter and watches her throw her backpack over her shoulders.

"Mommy or I will be here to pick you up after school," Frank tells his daughter. Emily nods and distractedly kisses his cheek.

"Okay, Daddy, I see you later. I go find Ian," Emily tells her dad and nearly sprints out the car door. Frank bites his lip as he watches his daughter shyly approach a curly-haired blonde boy he presumes is Ian. He makes a mental note to vet Ian and his parents through Secret Service when this situation with Claire passes.

He sighs and takes his phone out of his blazer, wanting to see if he missed any texts or calls from his wife. Claire hasn't tried to reach out to him besides the message about getting her blood drawn, which doesn't surprise Frank. She always processes news on her own before coming to him for comfort.

 _Cancer._ He's hoping that this is merely a scare and they can move on with their lives, but he doesn't want to be naïve. Claire's mother died from cancer, and she made it clear she wasn't going to go through what Elizabeth did.

 _Frank and Emily see Claire and Tom walk into the staging area at the hotel. Claire just returned from Dallas with Tom to be with Elizabeth when she died._

" _Mommy!" Emily runs over to Claire, stopping short when her mother doesn't reciprocate her glee. Frank hangs back, waiting to see how Claire will react to seeing their daughter. He's barely talked to her since she called him this morning to tell him Elizabeth passed. Emily doesn't know yet, he wanted to wait for Claire to have that conversation._

" _Hi Emily," Claire whispers and bends down to pick up their daughter. She approaches her husband, accepting a one-armed hug from him. He waits for Emily to demand to go over by Tom before speaking to Claire._

" _Does she know?" Claire asks. Frank gently cups his hands on her shoulders, expecting her to pull away. They still awkwardly fumble through displays of affection with each other in the aftermath of the separation. Instead, she merely stands there, allowing him to comfort her._

" _No, I figured we could explain it to her after the nomination. How are you doing?" Claire flips her hair away from her face with a slight shrug. Elizabeth barely meant anything to her, and yet, she still feels the same pit in her stomach that she felt last night._

" _Fine. We can talk more later. I have to go over my speech with Tom." Claire walks away from him without another word._

 _Later on that night, Claire, Frank and Emily are all piled on Claire's bed in her hotel room. Emily is fresh out of the bath and is sitting in between her parents._

" _Emily, remember when we went to visit your grandma in Dallas?" Claire asks. She grimaces at the phrasing of her question. The only reason they went to Texas was to get some distance from Frank while she decided the fate of their marriage. It wasn't so Elizabeth could spend time with her only grandchild._

" _Yeah, she was not nice. She never talk wif me," Emily admits quietly. Frank bites his lip, swallowing his comment about Claire's mother. He detested the woman for the way she treated his wife and daughter._

" _I know. She is dead. You won't be seeing her anymore." Claire doesn't bother to explain the intricacies of lymphoma or how Elizabeth moved on to a better place, one free of pain. It goes far beyond her three-year-old's level of comprehension._

 _Frank is taken aback by how blunt Claire is being with their daughter. He glances from Emily to Claire, wondering who is going to speak first._

" _Okay, Mommy. Will you read this to me?" Emily hands Claire the book lying next to her on the bed._

" _I'll be right back. Have Daddy start reading you the book," Claire tells Emily and gets off the bed, heading towards the bathroom. Emily turns to her father, her eyes wide with anticipation._

" _Em, I want to check on your mom for a minute. Here," Frank gives Emily the book and follows his wife into the bathroom. Claire is hunched over the sink, dabbing her eyes with a tissue._

" _I shouldn't be crying over her, I know," Claire whispers. Frank shrugs and reaches to hand her a fresh Kleenex._

" _Elizabeth was a terrible person to you, but she was still your mother." Claire nods as a tear slips down her cheek._

" _I felt nothing towards her…and you…until I did. Before she died, Francis, she couldn't eat, she couldn't get out of bed. If something like that ever happens—" Frank reaches for her, gently rubbing her shoulder._

" _Claire—" He doesn't want to even consider Claire going through the same illness her mother did. It would be unbearable to watch his wife go through something similar._

" _No, if I ever get sick like she did, I don't want Emily to see me wither and die. You have to promise me you will do whatever is necessary to make sure our daughter doesn't see me that way." Frank quickly presses a kiss to her temple, hoping she doesn't reject him._

" _I promise." Claire steps towards him and rests her head on his shoulder._

"Damn it," Frank mumbles to himself inside the Oval. He's been trying to reach his wife since he got back to the White House over an hour ago. She should've had her appointment by now and touched base with him. "Claire, it's me, call me back."

He hangs up the phone and tosses it on his desk. Frank doesn't appreciate his wife dodging his calls, something she would be upset about if the roles were reversed.

Claire returns from the doctor's office after a brief visit and sits down in her office chair. She hears her phone vibrating in her purse but doesn't make any attempt to grab it. More than likely, it's her husband, wanting to hear results she doesn't have. Her hand reaches to palpate the lump, biting her lip in pain before quickly withdrawing it. She can't allow her mind to wander into the what-if's and how-come's. As Vice President and First Lady, she has to push forward as if nothing is wrong, something she is well-versed in.

Claire opens her desk drawer, seeing a card with her name on it, undoubtedly from her daughter. A smile sweeps across her lips at the sight of a poorly drawn shark with the words "We love you more than sharks love blood, Mommy," written in her husband's handwriting. Frank must've slipped the card in her desk while she was out. She tucks the card into her purse just as her assistant is showing Cabinet members in for their morning briefing.

When Frank returns back to the residence later that night, it's as if nothing has changed in the past day. Claire is putting the finishing touches on the chicken the chef brought up for them, Emily is occupied with playing a game on her iPad. He approaches his wife, standing directly in front of her. Claire spins and nearly bumps into him.

"When have we ever avoided each other?" Frank asks, a question his wife has posed to him in the past. Claire sets down her glass of wine with a frown. He's right, she's breaking one of their rules: _when you don't involve me, we are in free fall._

"I should've called," Claire admits. Frank merely stares at her, wondering why she is being so evasive.

"And...?" Frank's learned over the years that the more Claire dodges, the more he's not going to respond well to whatever she has to say.

"It's not good, Francis. The results were inconclusive, they want to do a mammogram tomorrow."

Frank feels all of the air being sucked out of the room. He was hoping—like Claire—a simple blood test would alleviate their worries.

"Alright, I'll clear my morning." Claire's already shaking her head. She doesn't want her potential cancer to disrupt their lives any more than it already has.

"You don't—" Frank reaches for her, gliding his hand down her arm.

"No, I want to." She was by his side through the shooting and recovery process, the least he could do is return the favor. A barely-there smile appears on Claire's lips. She steps forward and places a tiny peck on the curve of her husband's smile line.

"The card was sweet." Frank does a half-turn to hand his wife her wine glass.

"It's still true." Despite the separation and the awkwardness between them after they reconciled, there's nobody that could replace Claire for Frank. He meant when he told her that she was the only person he's ever truly loved.

Claire and Frank sit at their usual spots at the dining room table. Emily is already seated, slurping on her milk.

"Mommy, you eatin'?" I pfink you sick," Emily says with confusion. Claire glances at Frank, silently asking him to step in.

"I was…but I'm feeling better." Claire lies and takes a deep sip of her wine. Truthfully, the side where she found the lump this morning is aching and she's feeling slightly nauseous. She notices Frank staring at her while she picks at her food, so she takes a huge bite just to appease him.

"Oh dat's good. Ian wants you better too, Mommy," Emily informs her mother. Frank lifts his eyebrows at the mention of his daughter's new friend.

"Claire, did you know about Ian?" Frank asks his wife. Emily rolls her eyes while shoving a bite of chicken in her mouth. Claire shoots her husband a warning look, reminding him not to overreact at the possibility of their four-year-old having a new friend.

"I didn't. Do you like him, Emily?" Claire asks. Emily enthusiastically nods.

"Yes, he's very cute."

"Be careful, Em." Claire meets her husband's eyes over their daughter's head. "I'm having him vetted."

"Francis."

Claire can only imagine how difficult it will be when Emily reaches the age where she will start dating. She won't entertain him now when Emily is only four.

Claire elects to put Emily to bed, which is no surprise to Frank. He fully expected his wife to want to spend as much time as possible with their daughter after the day she's had.

A half an hour later, Frank quietly opens the door to Emily's room. Claire is sitting next to their daughter on the edge of the bed, watching Emily sleep. He places his hand on her shoulder, gliding it down until she clasps it.

"Cigarette?" He asks. Claire shakes her head. She's exhausted and is too nauseous to inhale cigarette smoke.

"No, I'm going to turn in. Are you coming to bed soon?" She asks. Frank smiles, it's been a while since she's asked him that question.

"Yes." Since Frank can't unwind with video games, he chooses smoking as his vice. He goes to the windowsill to their stash of cigarettes and an ashtray. Frank lights a cigarette and presses it to his lips, feelings his muscles relax.

After he's put out the cigarette, he walks into Claire's bedroom. They haven't officially blended rooms yet, that's being put on hold until they figure out whether they want to even make that step again. Claire is laying on what's unofficially become her side, facing away from the door. Frank grabs the pajamas Claire laid out for him in her bathroom and changes before joining his wife in her bed.

Claire feels the abrupt weight change on the bed and carefully rolls over. Frank is pushing the covers higher on his body, not noticing his wife staring at him.

"Hey, is Emily still asleep?" Claire whispers with sleep evident in her voice.

"Yes, I made sure before I came in here."

"Good," Claire's readjusts in bed, moving slightly closer to him. Frank's hand reaches up to pinch her cheek.

"I don't want to outlive you by twenty-five years," He says so softly, he doesn't think Claire can hear him.

" _You're scolding me," Frank says to his wife as they are sharing a cigarette by the windowsill. This comes only a day after their tiny fight about the rowing machine Claire bought for him and put in the basement._

" _Am I?" Claire asks while staring straight ahead, letting the smoke filter out of her mouth._

" _You are, silently. Is it the rowing machine?"_

" _You tell me."_

" _It's the rowing machine."_

" _You haven't used it."_

" _How do you know I haven't?"_

" _Francis," Claire says in an exasperated tone. She would expect more from him after being married for so long._

" _You know I don't like to be managed."_

" _I'm not trying to manage you. I just don't want to outlive you by twenty-five years. I don't want our daughter to grow up without a father."_

 _Frank takes the cigarette away from her, inhaling deeply. It's clear he's not going to win this argument nor is his wife going to return the equipment._

" _Sweetheart, she won't. I'm on my feet all day. I must walk three miles around the Capitol. And do you know how many calories the brain burns?" Claire gives him a sideways glance, silently telling him he's missing the point entirely._

" _It's your heart I'm worried about. Use the machine." Claire stamps the cigarette out and walks past him._

"You won't," Claire whispers back and rolls over. Frank sneaks his hand through the bend in her arm, being careful to avoid the sensitive spot where the lump is. Claire reaches for his hand, grabbing it and holding it close to her body.

The next morning, Claire and Frank get ready simultaneously while Emily insists on changing by herself.

"You don't have to come today," Claire reminds him. Their jobs don't allow for them to both be unreachable, even in extenuating circumstances. Frank turns around, seeing his wife's hands immediately come up to adjust his tie.

"I know." Claire gives her husband a clipped nod and leaves it at that.

"Mommy? Are you bringing me to school today?" Emily asks from the doorway. The toddler is waiting with her backpack and lunchbox. Claire ties the bow on her white dress shirt while nodding.

"Yes, Daddy and I are both dropping you off at school." Emily's eyes widen at her mother's declaration. She looks at her father for confirmation.

"Why Daddy?" Emily asks. Claire turns to face Frank and gestures to Emily, hoping he won't tell their daughter the real reason.

"We have a meeting on the other side of town by your school. Let's go." Emily nods and scampers off towards the agents waiting to bring her to school. Claire reaches across to grab her husband's hand, squeezing it as a silent thank you. She can deal with this alone, but it's comforting to know she doesn't have to. Truthfully, Claire is a bundle of nerves, despite her nonchalant demeanor. The little sleep she managed to get were filled with dreams of losing her hair, being hooked up to an IV, and Emily crying by her bedside.

"You see Ian, Mommy? He's over there," Emily points out the window to the blonde boy waiting for her by the playground. Claire moves around her husband to look out the window.

"He's very cute, Emily," Claire says, just to tease Frank. She hears her husband scoff quietly in her ear.

"He's my buddy, Mommy. Right, Daddy?" Emily asks, her cherub face radiating innocence. Frank feels the heat of Claire's eyes burning on his face and shifts in his seat.

"Go, Ian is waiting," Frank says and opens the car door for his daughter. Emily leans forward and stamps a kiss to Claire and Frank's cheek before running out the door. Claire sees Emily rush over to Ian, taking the little boy's hand and dragging him towards the school.

"He's adorable," Claire comments as the car is taking them over to the doctor's office. Frank crosses his arms over his chest in response. She puts her hand on his thigh. "Francis, she's four. We can let her have Ian as a _friend._ " Frank doesn't say anything in response, he just places his hand over Claire's. He's still going to look into Ian's parents, regardless of what his wife says.

They pull up in front of the doctor's office and wait for the agents to open the door of the vehicle. Frank and Claire want to keep as low of a profile here as possible, just in case they are being followed by the media.

The office is completely cleared out for them, so it doesn't take long for the doctor to grab Claire and Frank from the waiting room.

"Mr. President, it's nice to officially meet you," Claire's doctor, Dr. Bale, says. The tiny, older woman holds out her hand for Frank to shake.

"Same to you." Dr. Bale shows the couple into her office instead of an exam room. An agent accompanies them but waits outside for privacy. Dr. Bale sits down on one side of a desk, Frank and Claire sit in the chairs on the other.

"So, I wanted to go over your test results because even though I said they were inconclusive, nothing actually indicates cancer. I think we are merely dealing with a fluid-filled cyst," Dr. Bale explains.

Frank's hand skims over Claire's, watching her clasp it right away.

"That's good news?" Claire asks. This isn't what she was expecting, but it gives her a sense of relief.

"Yes. I would still have to perform an ultrasound to be sure, but I've changed my mind about the mammogram. They're uncomfortable and at this point, unnecessary."

"What brought this on?" Frank asks.

"It's common when there's a hormonal change. Have you had any other symptoms?" Claire shakes her head.

"I've been nauseous, but I think that's due to nerves." Frank glances from his wife to the doctor, wondering why nobody is thinking the same way as him.

"Is she pregnant?" Claire shakes her head, but pauses, wanting the doctor to tell them to be sure.

"No. Her blood work came back negative. Have you been late?" Claire avoids eye contact with Frank, knowing she's about to reveal something she hasn't shared with him.

"A couple of times. I took a test once, a few months ago, but it was negative." Frank turns to look at his wife, hurt flashing in his eyes for the briefest moment. He was under the impression that they didn't keep secrets from each other. Obviously, he was wrong.

"Okay. This could be the result of a period, menopause or miscarriage. It's hard to tell which without knowing if you were even pregnant in the first place." Frank and Claire stiffly nod. "Anyway, like I said, this is good news. Fluid-filled cysts are common and are rarely cancerous."

"When should we do the ultrasound?" Claire asks. Dr. Bale takes her glasses off the bridge of her nose and wipes them off with the sleeve of her lab coat.

"Are you available now? I don't want you to come back if you don't have to." Claire looks to Frank, wondering if he's going to stay or elect to go back to the White House. She can tell by the way he slipped his hand out of hers that he's upset. Honestly, she didn't tell him about the test because she knew exactly how the conversation would go: Frank would freak out about the possibility of a second child, reiterate that he doesn't want one, she would assure him it was negative, and they would move on.

"It's up to you," Frank tells his wife. He's willing to shelve their much-needed discussion until later. The most important thing at the moment is making sure Claire doesn't have cancer. Everything else can wait.

"Let's do it now." Claire would rather be assured she's all in the clear instead of unnecessarily waiting for another appointment.

"Okay, give me a few seconds to set up the machine." Dr. Bale excuses herself, leaving the couple alone in her office. Claire turns her head to face her husband, seeing him bite his lip. She sighs and leans over, putting her hand on his arm.

"Do you want a second child?" Frank asks her directly, catching her off-guard. They've been dancing around this topic for nearly a year, he would like to have it settled. Claire opens her mouth and shuts it, needing a moment to think of her response.

"When Emily was talking about it, seeing her so excited about the possibility of a sibling, made me want another. And then I thought about our age, and what we still want to accomplish and realized how unrealistic it is to want something that's never going to happen."

"You can't ask me to want something I don't want," Frank tells Claire while looking directly at her.

"I know. A small part of me wanted it to happen naturally, like with Emily." Frank opens his mouth but is cut off by Dr. Bale returning.

"Sorry to interrupt, I'm ready for you if you want to follow me." Claire and Frank are led to an empty exam room with an ultrasound machine idling by the bed. Claire is given a gown to change into while Frank makes himself comfortable on the chair beside the bed.

Dr. Bale boots up the machine and has Claire laying on her side, facing Frank.

"This might hurt. I have to put the probe directly on the lump, which I understand is tender for you," Dr. Bale apologetically says. Claire nods and bites her lip as the probe presses into the sore spot on her side. Frank sees Claire's discomfort and scoots his chair closer to her, putting his hand on her thigh.

"Can you see anything?" Frank asks for his wife. Claire is far too concentrated on keeping her composure than asking any questions.

"It's definitely not solid, which is a good sign. However, due to your family history, I think I should take a sample just in case." Dr. Bale holds the probe with one hand and grabs a needle with the other. "You might want to hold her hand, this is really going to hurt."

Frank relocates his hand from Claire's thigh to her balled-up fist on the other side of her body. He uncoils her fingers, placing his hand in her own.

"Just do it," Claire tells Dr. Bale. The doctor inserts the needle, eliciting a gasp from Claire.

"Squeeze my hand," Frank whispers to Claire, seeing how tense her body is. Claire clamps down on his hand and shuts her eyes, waiting for the pain to subside.

"Okay, I'm done. It's a fluid, which is great. The rest will drain itself out and the lump should go away within a matter of days. Let me get you a band aid," Dr. Bale tells Claire. Frank helps Claire slowly sit up while Dr. Bale puts a band aid on her side. "If you spike a fever or the lump gets bigger and more painful, I need to see you right away. Other than that, you are free to go."

"Thank you," Frank says for the two of them. The doctor excuses herself and Claire carefully changes back into her clothes, wincing at the slightest movement.

"I'm ready," Claire tells her husband and gets off the bed. Frank stands beside her, watching her gather all of her belongings before walking out the door. He places his hand on the small of her back, walking behind her until they get into the awaiting vehicle.

"Are you picking Emily up from school or am I?" Frank asks on the ride back to the White House. Claire shifts her focus from her lap to him.

"I can. You did it yesterday." Frank gives her a half-nod and goes back to staring out the window. "Francis, I didn't mean to put you in an uncomfortable position at the doctor's office." His head turns as he holds out his hand for his wife to clasp.

"I know. I just want you to know that my position hasn't changed." Claire nods, she's well aware of his stance on more children. This silent argument they are having is really stemming from nothing. Yes, she realizes she hurt his feelings by omitting the pregnancy test, but she took it more for reassurance than anything.

"Maybe we could get Emily a dog instead of a baby," Claire suggests, giggling when she sees the pure shock on her husband's face. He shakes his head in amusement and lets their conjoined hands fall onto his lap.

"I'm glad you are okay." The cancer scare rattled Frank but reminded him they still can effectively support each other as a team.

"Me too." Claire leans her head on Frank's shoulder for the tiniest moment.

Several hours later, Frank returns to the residence to find Claire and Emily parked at the kitchen table, sharing some ice cream.

"What's this?" Frank asks in amusement. Claire's never condoned ice cream for dinner before, knowing the results of their daughter hopped up on too much sugar.

"We havin ice cream, Daddy! Here, sit," Emily demands, pointing to her father's spot at the table. Frank raises his eyebrows at his wife as she pushes her nearly empty dish of ice cream towards him.

"Just this once," Claire tells him. She wanted to celebrate dodging cancer without making it too obvious to their daughter that something was wrong. Frank scoops up some ice cream from the carton and digs in. "I haven't eaten this much ice cream since I was pregnant with Emily."

 _Frank rolls over in bed, blindly reaching for his wife. His eyes flutter open when his hand skims the sheets instead of Claire._

" _Claire?" Frank asks, his voice heavy with sleep. He fully awakens when he doesn't receive a response. Claire's been having minor contractions at night, and he wants to make sure she isn't fully in labor. He rises out of bed, slipping on his robe and starts walking the second floor of their townhouse. The nursery is empty, his wife's go-to spot when she's having trouble sleeping. He descends the stairs, hoping his wife merely fell asleep on the living room couch._

" _Francis, I'm over here," Claire calls out, seeing her husband searching for her. Frank walks into the kitchen, grinning at the sight of his pregnant wife hunched over the sink, eating directly out of the ice cream carton._

" _Midnight craving?" Frank asks, walking over to her and stealing the spoon out of her hand. Claire nods, sweeping her hand over her swollen stomach._

" _She kept moving and I couldn't sleep." Frank takes a few spoonsful of ice cream and sets the rest aside. He sets his hand gently on her abdomen, feeling tiny flutters beneath his palm._

" _Another month and she will be here," He reminds his wife. Claire's reached the uncomfortable stage of her pregnancy and is counting the days until their daughter makes her arrival. He removes his hand, reaching for hers. "Come on, let's get some sleep."_

"Mommy, can I have some more?" Emily asks sweetly, batting her eyelashes for effect. Claire shakes her head; she's indulged her toddler's sweet tooth enough.

"No honey, it's time for your bath. You can have some apples if you are still hungry." Emily frowns and looks over at her dad still eating his ice cream.

"Fine," Emily pouts and hops off her chair, walking to the fridge and grabbing the pre-cut apple slices on the bottom shelf.

"Is it bad?" Frank asks Claire once Emily is out of ear shot. He noticed her shift uncomfortably in her chair when he first got home.

"It's not pleasant, but no, it's not bad."

"What can I do?" Emily returns to her seat and starts munching on her apples.

"Nothing. If there was something, I'd ask." Frank nods and steals an apple from Emily's plate.

"Hey! Mommy, Daddy take my apple wifout asking!"

"What do you think we should do, Emily?" Claire asks. Emily taps her finger on her chin while thinking.

"We should kick him out of the Oval and be pwesident instead!" Claire winks at her daughter.

"I like the idea." Frank sneers at Claire and takes another apple from their daughter's plate.

"Em, go get ready for your bath, it's my turn tonight." Frank tells Emily. The toddler excitedly nods and grabs an apple slice in each hand before running over to her mother to say goodnight. Claire hugs her daughter and smiles as she sees Emily happily munching on her apples while walking to her room.

"I'll meet you for a cigarette after?" Frank asks, kissing her as she nods.

"Wine?" Claire asks after their lips separate with a smack.

"Yes."

Frank gets Emily washed, dressed in her pajamas and tucked in her bed. Emily's holding her favorite book—one Frank has read to her a million times.

"Daddy, is Mommy sick?" Emily asks Frank. Frank closes the book and sets it on his lap.

"Why would you say that, Em?" Emily shrugs and grabs her rabbit, holding it close to her body.

"I hear her talk to the doctor in the car after school. She not tell me though."

"We thought your mom was, but she's not, which is good news." Emily nods in comprehension and refocuses her attention on the book her father is going to read her.

Frank wishes Emily goodnight and shuts the door to her room behind him. Claire is already waiting with a cigarette and a glass of wine in her hand by the windowsill.

"Here," Claire tells him, handing him a glass of wine. He takes a hefty sip, needing it after the past couple days. "Have you heard anything from Seth about whether we were photographed at the doctor's office?"

"No. I told him to let me know if something like that were to come up. Em heard you on the phone with the doctor on the way home from school. She asked me if you were sick." Claire freezes and accepts the cigarette back from Frank.

"She just called me to assure me everything came back negative. I didn't even think Emily was paying attention. Do you think I need to talk to her?"

"I don't think so. If she brings it up again, then maybe. I told her she had nothing to worry about." Claire takes the last sip of her wine and pours herself more out of the bottle.

"And do we have anything to worry about?" She doesn't want anything swept under the rug between them. Frank takes the cigarette back from his wife.

"I'm content with the way things are. I just want you to feel the same."

"I do. I felt differently before, but I'm done with that now." For Claire, having a second child was more of an unrealistic dream than anything else. She understands the realities of their situation and is comfortable with it.

Frank pours himself another glass and refills Claire's until the bottle is empty. He holds up his glass, prompting Claire to do the same.

"To us, a team," Frank says.

"To a union like no other," Claire says, quoting an observation made about them from Tom Yates' book. They clink glasses and each take a sip. Suddenly, Frank stamps the cigarette out and looks at her, his eyes darkening. Claire juts up her chin and swallows the rest of her wine before following her husband to her bedroom.

 **A/N: Okay, this really is the last chapter of** _ **The Aftermath.**_ **I hope you liked this story—it's truly one of my favorite fics I've ever written. I'm hoping to do a final five-chapter wrap-up to this series, but I REALLY need more ideas. I want to know how you want this to end (or if you are content with what I have here, please say so!) Thank you for reading this,** _ **The Fallout**_ **and** _ **The Interview**_ **, please leave me your thoughts on the way out.**


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